Every End has a Begininng
by madamwolf
Summary: Sequel to 'From Beginning to End' School's over, now it's time for the marauders to wreak havoc in the real world. See what lies ahead in the long journey of the marauders and their tragic end. RemxOC and Sirius with many many many OC girlfriends...
1. The Beginning

Lisa: Oh I know, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I know I said this would be up so long ago. But I ran into the writers block monster. Those of you who write you know what I'm talking about.

Heather: Evvvvvvvil

Lisa: (slaps heather upside the head)

Heather: x.o

Lisa: Now thank you to everyone who read the last story and now may I present to you the beginning to Every End has a Beginning.

The Beginning

James opened his eyes and groaned it was morning once again. He was in his new flat that he and Lily had just moved into two days ago, right down the hall were Sirius, Andy, Remus, Heather, Laura and Peter. James sighed and looked over to Lily sleeping peacefully… in a separate bed. She said she didn't want to rush things she had said, which needless to say upset James.

Shrugging he got up and stretched; he slowly walked over to his dresser rubbing his eyes and stared at his face in the mirror. He ran his hand over his hair a couple dozen times in all directions, picking up his wand he then slowly and tiredly walked to the kitchen. When he was there he took his wand and tapped the pot making it whistle. It was coffee time. James yawned and took the coffee grinds out of the cabinet and put some in the steaming mug. As he began stirring it he heard the door bang open behind him. He whipped around wand at the ready. He sighed when he saw it was just Sirius Black with a horrible case of bed hair standing in his doorway.

"Sirius, what are you doing here?" James asked taking a sip of his still steaming hot coffee. "And, you know, you could knock." He added to the end as Sirius walked in uninvited.

"Prongs, mate, I've lived with you in a dorm room for seven years, there is nothing I haven't seen before." Sirius said walking next to James and leaning on the counter.

James thought that over for a second. "That's actually quite disturbing… But seriously, what are you doing in my home. You do have your own do you not?"

"I heard coffee."

"You hear coffee?"

"Yes."

"You know most people smell coffee."

"Yes, well, I hear it."

Sirius took the coffee right out of James's hands and began drinking it only to make a face and almost spit it out. "Oh ew, James! No cream? What is wrong with you?"

"I take my coffee black." James said making himself a new cup since Sirius was already putting cream in his. "So, how are things in your 'bachelor pad'? James said using the best air quotes he could with a coffee mug in his hand.

"Wonderful!" Sirius yelled being very chipper for this early in the morning. "Couldn't be better!"

"Any word on everyone else?" James asked.

"Well, no… I heard Heather scream. I think from Laura's taste, Andy stopped by and stole a bottle of rum in the middle of the night. Merlin knows what her and Remus were doing in there." Sirius said scratching his head making his long, black hair stand up even more.

James cut him off. "How do you know it was Andy?"

"Who else would steal alcohol at two in the morning, let alone rum? She's lucky I even had any."

"Good point,"

"And, hey, I heard Pete come in late last night but then I think he left again, you know we share a wall and I heard him stumbling in cause I forgot to put up the silencing charm. It was like three o'clock. That new job of his has him working all hours." Sirius said in disbelief.

"At least he has a job now." James said and Lily's exhausted voice came floating into the room.

"James?" She called.

"In here, Flower." He replied right before taking another sip of his coffee.

"Do I smell coffee?" She asked still in the other room.

"See? She smells it not hears it." James said and that's when Lily came walking in the room.

Lily was wearing a pink, short, silk night gown with a silk robe wide open, the night gown was fairly revealing. As she stepped further in the room they saw her eyes were shut and she was rubbing them and stretching. When they finally opened she immediately saw Sirius with a grin on his face and she screamed. She desperately grabbed at his robe and cover up. "Bloody hell Sirius! What are you _doing_ here!?"

"I popped in." He smirked and drank more of his coffee.

"Why? You have your own home!" She cried still holding her robe tight around her.

"Yeah… But it's boring there." He said with a stupid grin on he's mastered since his first year at Hogwarts.

"Shut up, Black." She mumbled and walked over to the refrigerator to grab the orange juice, unlike the two men she was not addicted to the thing known as caffeine.

"Aw, back to last name basis? That's such a same Lily baby." He said with a pouting look on.

"Don't call me that." She said and began making herself and James some breakfast.

"What about me?" Sirius asked quickly noticing that she was only making breakfast for two. "I go hungry too you know."

"I'm not making you breakfast, if you're really that desperate go find food somewhere else." Lily said not looking up from the stove as she make eggs.

"Fine then, I will." Sirius said and chugged the remainder of his coffee and then walked out the door. Sirius stood in the hall for a moment wondering where he could get more food. Then he looked to the door across the hall. Andy and Remus. He smirked to himself and opened the door without even knocking. "Gooooood morning!" he yelled as he walked in.

"Screw you." Andy said walking past him not even caring he just barged in.

"Well you're lively this morning." He said and watched her as she flopped down in the couch drinking Lord knows what was in that cup. She was wearing black pajama pants with a bright red tank top that showed several inches of her stomach. Apparently she was not worried about Sirius seeing her in her pj's. "Are, uh, you okay? You seem kinda… funny."

"Fine." She said shrugging and she continued to stare at the TV in the front of the room. No doubt Andy snagged it from her mom.

Before he couple respond Remus walked by with the same look on his face as Andy. He wore a pair of boxers along with a t-shirt. "Hey, Sirius." He said. "When you'd get here, mate?"

"Um, just now actually… Are you guys okay?" he asked again.

"Absolutely." Remus aid and then looked up to see Sirius's confused expression. "We've come to accept the fact that you will walk into our home uninvited. We're used it and we know that you will never stop." Remus said turning his head back to the TV.

"But this is the first time I've done it."

"Which made the gettin'-used-to-it so hard to do." Andy said taking another sip from her cup.

"You know, this was funnier with Lily and James." Sirius complained.

"Lily and James are unprepared." Remus said taking Andy's cup and taking a long drink from it.

Sirius glared at them for several more seconds before grunting and storming out of the room, upset that he couldn't bother them. The two continued to sit on the couch and not even looking up Remus said, "Don't forget to shut the door, Padfoot." They heard him come back with another grunt and the door shut. "Thank you." Remus said.

Sirius walked down the hall a few feet before he reached another door, this flat occupied Heather and Laura. He grinned and opened the door wide; he looked around and spotted Laura dusting the shelves. She had her back to him so she didn't notice him entering; she unlike everyone else he encountered that morning was fully dressed. "Are you dusting?" he asked her with shock in his voice. "You've lived here two days."

Laura turned around quickly not expecting visitors at this hour and especially ones that did not say they would be coming over. "Sirius! What in Merlin's name are you doing here?" She asked.

"I decided to pop in check on my favorite girls." He smiled and Laura rolled her eyes. "But really, why are you dusting?"

"This place is filthy." She responded and went back to her obsessive compulsive cleaning of the room.

"You're the first people to live here, how can it be that bad?"

"You'd be surprised, and Heather! Oh my gosh, she's lived here for two days and already this place looks like a sty." Laura complained as she put down the duster and picked up a washcloth to clean the counter.

"You know, you are a witch, Laura, you can use magic." Sirius said.

"Please, that's the coward's way out of cleaning."

"No, that's the normal way." Heather said making her appearance in the doorway wearing her flannel pj bottoms and a shirt that was far too big for her. "Laura I told you to stay out of my room." She said in a tired voice, they hadn't even been living together for a week and they were already on each others nerves.

"I would if you kept it in proper order."

"Hell no." Heather said and walked in the room and dug her head in her refrigerator. "So, Sirius, why are you standing in my home?" She asked with her head still in there.

"He 'popped in'." Laura said rolling her eyes. "Unless you're going to take something out take your head out of that refrigerator, you're wasting energy."

Heather moaned and walked over to the couch. "So, how're things in your flat… things here bloody suck!" She yelled to Laura who was unfazed and once again rolled her eyes.

"They wouldn't suck if you were more of a lady." Laura said and then took a good look at her handy work around the kitchen. "Now I'm going to clan your room."

Heather said nothing and continued to stare at the wall as if she could make a hole in it with her mind.

"Um, I thought you didn't want her in your room." Sirius said but was quickly hushed by Heather who was supporting a mischievous smirk.

"Ahh!" They heard Laura scream.

"What did you do?" He asked with a wide smile on.

"Put a small charm on the door –" Before she could finish Laura came walking in covered in purple slime.

"HEATHER!" She screamed.

"Told you not to go in my room."

"SHUT IT!" Laura bellowed and threw some slime at her.

The two girls quickly engaged in a purple slim fight and Sirius bailed out of the room just in time before he was hut with some. He sighed and stayed with his back to the door for a moment before walking over to Peter's flat. This couldn't be too bad, what could Peter be doing? He opened the door and walked in, the flat was dead quiet. It looked no one was even living there, sure it was furnished fairly well, of course because Peter had money but it was so cold looking. Sirius stepped in and shut the door and the sound seemed to echo across the room.

"Pete?" Sirius said and he got no response. "Wormtail?" He asked again a little louder.

He walked in a little deeper and looked around for his fellow marauder. He shoes echoed on the hardwood floor. "Hey, Peter, you home?" he called out just as the door behind him opened. Sirius whipped around in surprise seeing who was walking in. It was Peter. "Hey, mate," Sirius said and then took in the fact Peter was fully dressed. "You just get home? Please tell me it was a girl and not your job."

"Work," he responded tiredly rubbing his eyes.

"Sodding hell, mate, he works you too hard." Sirius said with a slightly sympathetic look on his face. "We should go pull a good old fashioned marauder prank on his ass." He smirked.

"No." Peter said a little too quickly. "I mean, he's a real git. He could sack me."

Sirius nodded and then looked at Peters face. "You look tired; I'll leave you alone and maybe bug someone else." He said, he really meant it too. He was a really annoying joker, but he knew when he should stop.

"Thanks." Peter mumbled and headed off to his room.

Sirius looked after him; he didn't fail to notice that Peter had dark circles under his eyes. The fact that his hair looked like James's or that he hadn't even been out of school for a month and he was already being so over worked that not even an adult could handle it all. Sure they were qualified wizards but they were still only seventeen or eighteen depending on who you talked to. Until that 'teen' left your age you weren't really an adult yet.

Sirius slowly walked out of the flat and shut the door behind him quietly. He would defiantly have to talk to James and Remus about this later when the girls were out but for now he was going to head back to his own home.

Lisa: There… Finished…. Finally!

Heather: I'll say.

Lisa: I am so sorry and I know I've said that before. I hope ya'll can forgive me and I promise I will have more chapters up quicker, and besides it's the beginning, the ideas in my head really don't start taking effect until the eighth chapter or so.

Heather: And we will get there fast, all we need is reviews.

Lisa: Yes reviews, reviews…. Reviews…. Reviews…. Reviews….

Heather: …


	2. Party All Night

Lisa: I know I'm late, hey gimmie a break I do have a life.

Heather: no you don't.

Lisa: Shut up, sorry bout that folks she's just being a bad dog.

Heather: …

Lisa: Now, ON WITH THE FIC! And guys this chapter spells out PAN! I find that so amusing, ya know Party All Night? PAN!

Party All Night

Remus woke up and looked up to the window and immediately closed his eyes and flinched back. He bought a hand up to his head and moaned quietly as not to wake Andy who was still sleeping beside him, probably until very late in the day. He had such a headache, it was horrible. Remus looked down and realized he was still in his clothes from the previous night. He furrowed his brow and thought about what had happened for a few seconds until it all came back to him in one big wave.

_Flashback to the night before_

Andy and Remus were sitting on their couch in their small living room watching the TV when all of a sudden there door burst open. They didn't flinch at all, they didn't even look up they knew exactly who it was.

"Hey Padfoot." Remus said deadpan.

"Hey Moony! Hey Andy! Come on we're leaving." Sirius said walking in front of the TV and shutting it off right away.

"Leaving? Leaving Where?" Remus asked raising his eyebrows at his friend.

"To the club," Sirius said. "Bloody hell, I told you about the new club I told you we'd be going."

"I didn't actually think you were serious, mate." Remus said rubbing his eyes.

"I have always been Sirius." He grinned. "Now come on, time to go party."

"Padfoot, no."

"C'mon, Moony."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"But you promised."

"I never did such a thing."

"Oh for God's sake let's just go." Andy said walking in the room; the two didn't even notice she had left. She was walking in shrugging on her leather duster and pulling on a pair of fingerless gloves. "I dun wanna hear ya'll argue about it all night."

"Andy…" Remus said shaking his head. "I don't want to go to a club."

"Well tough luck, hun, your goin'." She said and grabbed his arm. "I promise you _will_ have fun. I guarantee it." She said while pushing him to the door to go and rally up the rest of their friends.

They walked to James and Lily's apartment first since they were the closest. Like always Sirius didn't bother knocking on the door he just barged right in. Remus and Andy walked in with a little more caution, for they were not used to walking into peoples homes. Aside from the fact they all kind of all shared a home at Hogwarts. Sirius hardly made it in three feet before he yelled 'whoa' and back up a foot or two running into the two werewolves.

"SIRIUS!" James yelled and Lily screamed inaudibly at him.

The three potential partiers had just walked into a private moment between the two. James and Lily were exchanging spit in the middle of their kitchen (pardon the wording).

"Not something I need to see…" Andy muttered wincing back and pulling a face.

"This is awkward." Remus said folding his arms and looking almost anywhere but the kitchen.

"Sirius!" Lily screamed and walked up to him. "What have I told you about coming into our home without warning!?"

"Not to do it." He responded.

"Exactly, so what do you do?"

"I walk right in."

"N – no… No, Sirius you don't. STOP WALKING INTO MY HOME!" She screamed.

He just laughed faintly at her. "You know I won't. But anyway I did not walk in here to get yelled at and neither did the two lovely people behind me. I came here to ask, no, to _tell _you two to pretty yourselves up, we're going to the club and you're coming with us." He smirked.

"You mean that place that just opened?" James asked stepping forward.

"That's right, mate."

"Aw I've been wanting to go there." James said smiling until he looked at Lily who was giving him a death glare. "Oh no, no I don't." She said shaking his head.

"Come on you two." Sirius pleaded to them.

"We ready to go yet?" Heather said walking up behind them startling everyone.

"How'd ya know we were goin'?" Andy asked furrowing her brow. "We didn't get to you an' Lar yet."

"I was taking out the trash and I overheard." She explained. "But Laura's up for it, she doesn't really want to party she just wants to make sure we don't kill our selves and get to drunk or something along those lines." She waved her hand around.

"Well one of you has to be sober when we leave tonight, might as well be me." Laura said walking up behind heather as she was pulling her long brown hair up into her classic bun.

"Okay so if you guys are in all we have to do is grab Pete and we are good to go." Sirius said with an exited look on his face.

Everyone looked to Lily who looked back to them, at first her features were stern and set on 'no', but then she rolled her eyes and scoffed. James noticed this as a good sign and grinned widely. "Fine," She said walking back to her room to get ready. "You go get Peter I'll be out in two minutes."

"Means we can take our time, her two minutes means a half hour," James said and walked out the door with the rest of them.

They walked down the hall and as always Sirius opened the door as he did to everyone's flat and went right in. "Oi! Pete! Come out, come out wherever you are!"

The flat was quiet for a few seconds and the group of teenagers looked around and shrugged to one another until they heard footsteps. They all looked up and saw their short friend walking out to them. He looked like he hadn't left his home all day and he had circles under his eyes. "Hey guys, what's up?" he asked shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Hello, Wormtail, so glad you decided to join us in the land of the living." Sirius said wrapping his arm around Peter's shoulders and then he took a good look at him. "Even though you may not look it."

"Having a rough week, so what's up?" he asked again shrugging Sirius's arm off his shoulders.

"We're heading out to that new club, mate, thought you might want to join. Who knows you might even snag a girl." Sirius said elbowing Peter.

"Sirius! Women are not to be talked about like… like fish!" Laura said folding her arms.

"Depends who yer talkin' 'bout." Andy said turning back to her and shrugging her shoulders.

"A club?" Peter asked raising an eyebrow and gave in quickly. "Sure, I could use some fun."

"I know! That's why you're coming, now we have to wait while little miss Flower gets ready." Sirius said as they walked out of the flat and back down the hall to Lily and James' apartment.

They all walked back in their home to find Lily was not yet ready, and they didn't really expect her too be. "Lily? Lily Flower, you ready?" James asked pacing between the kitchen and living room. "'Cause, we have everyone but you honey."

"No, James, I am not ready. It takes longer for a girl then for a guy; we have to do certain things." Lily called from the bedroom and James's rolled his eyes plopping down on the couch next to Sirius who already had his feet on the coffee table and was playing with a throw pillow.

"Heather, Laura and Andy were ready in seconds." James's protested.

Lily poked her head out of the bedroom door with an angry look on her face. She held a wand in her hand and half her red hair was curled while the rest was lying flat against her face. "Shut it and let me do my work." Lily said in a low scary voice and then she pulled her head back in the room.

After a few seconds of pause Sirius spoke up. "Your girl is scary, mate."

Finally Lily was done and the group was heading over to the club. It didn't take long to walk there, it wasn't worth taking the night bus for that short a distance and they couldn't ride their brooms through the muggle part of town. So they walked. When they reached the front door there was a man standing out front, he was letting certain people in and there were a bunch of people waiting outside.

"That must be the bouncer…" Andy said peering at him through her glasses. "He don't look so tough."

Just as she said that the bouncer pushed a guy back who was trying to get in and he fell back into the crowd of people pushing them all down. "He looks mean." Laura whined as she looked over James's shoulder.

"Oh please." Sirius said and the group walked up to the man.

"Hold on there." Said the man standing in front of the door, he had to be around seven foot, Sirius was 6'1 and this guy was towering over him. 'Where do you think you're going?"

"There." Sirius said and pointed to the door.

"I don't think so."

"Hey! Let me in or I'll sick Andy on you!" he yelled and Andy shot him a nasty glare as she stepped to him with a fist raised.

"Let her fight your battles for ya?" The bouncer laughed.

"Well yea, when she's not making them, now move outta the way Frankenstein I wanna get in." Sirius said getting up in the bigger man's face.

"Hey, you get outta here!" He said and gave Sirius a hard shove making him fall back into his friends behind him knocking most of them down.

"Thanks for breaking my fall, mate." Sirius said to James who was underneath him.

"Yeah, and thanks for ruining our chances of making it in." James said getting out from under Sirius. "I'd say it's time for a good ol' fashion prank by the infamous marauders." He said grinning.

"I like that idea." Andy said and the group walked away leaving the bouncer a little confused as to why they just left without another word.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

About fifteen minutes later the group walked back up to the bouncer. "Okay what now?" he asked turning to them laughing.

"Look, mate, I think we got off on the wrong foot." Sirius said walking up to the bouncer. "What do you say we start over with a clean slate?" He said outing his hand on the larger man's shoulder.

"Get the hell outta here!" he said and grabbed Sirius's arms twisting it behind his back and then pushing his forward making him fall flat on his face.

"Well that was fun." He said getting up off the ground, he touched his nose and he when he looked at his hand he saw blood. "Oh bloody hell… hope I didn't get any on my shirt."

"Oh! Sirius! Are you okay?" Laura cried running up to him and helping him up, as soon as she realized what she had just done she cleared her throat taking out a handkerchief and handing it to Sirius, she then stepped away from her former boyfriend and looked at the ground.

"You put it on him?" Heather said not at all concerned about the fact that there was blood covering his mouth and chin.

"Yes, I got it." He mumbled and touched his nose once more and winced.

"Hey, dude, ya had to take one for the team." Andy said slapping his shoulder.

"And that is what I did." He said as Lily rolled her eyes and walked up to forcing him to kneel so she could reach his face better.

"Sirius, you're seventeen, almost eighteen soon and you can't even take care of a silly nose bleed." She said as she forced his head back and pinched his nose.

After a couple of seconds they heard a yelp from the door of the club. They looked over and saw a red slime covering the bouncer and the door. He cussed loudly and looked at the horrible mess; most of the people ran way afraid of the explosion.

What they had planted on him was a simple like slim pact, all it did was explode harmless red slime, but when it exploded the noise was enhanced to ten times what the normal noise would be making it sound dangerous and threatening.

When most of the people were gone the bouncer looked at his suit that was now ruined and once again cursed loudly. He stalked off presumably to get someone to watch the door while he changed.

"Okay ladies and gents, our window is open. But not for long." James said and the eight ex-Hogwarts students ran though the door.

They entered the club and lights were flashing with blaring music and everyone was either drunk at the bar or dancing wildly on the dance floor. They all grinned to one another, or at least most of them did and walked over to the bar.

"What do we want?" Remus asked.

Sirius and James shrugged not knowing muggle alcohol drinks as well as they knew wizarding ones.

"You know what I like." Heather said.

"Same here." Lily answered.

"I got it covered, one margarita, one pint of whiskey… ya know make that two and six pints of rum." Andy ordered.

"Andy." Laura warned.

"Five."

"Andy." She said again.

"I want one too…"

"I thought you wanted whiskey?"

"I want both."

"One."

"Fine. One margarita, two pints of whiskey and four pints or rum." She sighed and the man stood in front of them with an eyebrow raised.

"What?" Sirius asked.

"I'm gonna need some ID." He said.

"Oh crap…" James said. "I forgot it." He lied.

"Don't worry boys and girls." Heather said going in her pocket and grabbing some laminated cards. "I have them, knew none of ya'll bought you're wallets." Heather said and gave the man eight ID cards.

He looked at them then back at the underage wizards and witches. "Alright." He said and placed them on the table.

When he was out of earshot Sirius grinned to Heather. "Was worried they weren't ready in time."

"They almost weren't, the guy from Knockturn Alley just sent them to me as we walked in."

"Wait what's going on?" Laura asked.

"Sirius told me about the club and that we needed IDs and he had no idea on how we could get any, so I found this guy in Knockturn Alley who could make perfect muggle ID cards, I gave him pictures of each of us and he made them." She looked at her card. "Isn't it cool? They're driver's licenses."

"But we haven't taken any tests or classes or anything." Laura said.

"Who cares?! These things kick ass!" Andy said looking at her license. "I need to get a car now!"

The bartender came back a few minutes later with all their drinks and the eight or seven of them began to drink up, Laura simply drank water until of course Andy spiked it with some vodka.

_End Flashback_

Remus tried to think but that was the end of the night for him. He vaguely remembered two girls (who kind of looked like Andy and Heather) dancing on the bar, a man with shoulder length black hair getting punched in the face by a man twice his size and a petite young pretty woman standing behind the large man. He also remembered a red hair woman and a black haired man on the dance floor with a large circle of people around them. Another girl he thought about was also a woman with dark brown hair that was once up but now in a mess around her face getting in a chick fight with another girl, over Merlin knows what. There was also a man who was short with light hair picking up various women at the bar.

Remus shook his head only to conjure up a massive headache. He moaned and went to the bathroom to get something for his head. As he wandered aimlessly into the living room he saw Sirius sitting on his couch, as his friend turned his head around Remus noticed a large nasty looking black and blue eye.

"What the bloody hell happened, Moony?"

Lisa: Oh I'm sorry once again, I was so late.

Heather: No, worries this was funny.

Lisa: I know. Now I would go check reviews but that would only delay the updating of this chapter and I don't want to delay it anymore then I already have.

Heather: Smart choice.

Lisa: Yeah… so review people…. Please.


	3. Birthday Suprise

Lisa: I'm baaaaack.

Heather: (gasp)

Lisa: Yes I know shocking.

Heather: It's amazing.

Lisa: Ain't it? Now, guys get this ya know how I say I had a life last chapter? Well it kicks ass! I forgot how much having a life rocked! It's been missing for so long ya know? By the way, this chapter BS. hehe, bull shit...

Birthday Surprise

Several days later the teenagers were hanging out in Sirius's apartment, Sirius by the way still had a nasty black eye. They decide it was time for them to finally pop in on Sirius one day but it was his birthday. They were going to throw him a party. He didn't know of course but being Sirius he suspected something and believed that today he would get whatever he wanted, Andy wanted to spite him and just not throw a party to prove a point but no one would allow that, although Heather was taken by the idea.

The group played absent mindedly with different colored sparkles they made from their wands. Sirius walked over still waiting for his party to come to the surface, it was only two in the afternoon but he was still badgering them about the party. "So, when's the balloons gonna pop out of the ceiling and the cake poof on the table?" he asked walking in front of them trying to attract their attention.

"There are no balloons!" Andy yelled for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

"Then there is a cake?" He said with a smirk playing at his mouth.

"No cake!" Heather screamed widening her eyes at him.

"This is ridiculous come on guys, this is my _birthday!_ You're telling me you did nothing? I know you all better then that." He said crossing his arms across his chest.

"Or you thought you did." Remus said turning his head around to face Sirius.

"Fine then, be that way. Be all secretive about this. I'm leaving and I'll be back in a couple hours or so, and when I get back the part will start." He said grabbing his coat off the coat rack. As he walked out the door he gave them one last look and rolled his eyes.

When they heard his footsteps die out as he walked down the hall the seven got up from their chairs and began taking out party supplies. "Jeez, Lils, how much crap did ya buy?" Andy asked as she took out decorations that she even know what they were.

"A lot, come on he's turning eighteen!" Lily cried with a big smile on her face.

"How is eighteen different then seventeen or nineteen?" Heather asked. "Now twenty, that's a big one."

"Agreed." Andy said still staring at the odd decorations.

Lily rolled her eyes and walked over to her friend. "I happen to think every birthday is important." She said taking the decorations from Andy and hanging them up.

"You didn't celebrate my birthday." Heather said with a frown on her face.

"Well in my defense I was mad at you and I did apologize did I not?" Lily said turning to Heather and walking past her to hand up some more of the 'mystery decorations'.

Heather grumbled and inflated some balloons with her wand before throwing them out into the room randomly.

"I say we shouldn't even have a party." James said going back ot Andy's earlier idea and poking the unfrosted cake with his wand before Laura shooed him away from it. "You know, he knows we're giving him one, we always do I say we spite him and just forget the bloody thing."

"Agreed." Andy said in the same monotone voice she used earlier.

"That's ridiculous!" Lily said as she walked over to the cake that Laura had just begun to front and examined it for a second. "We already have all the decorations and the cake –"

"The boos." Andy spoke up one again lifting a bottle of fire whiskey out of a brown bag along with a bottle of rum and then another smaller bottle of butterbeer for the nondrinkers, aka Laura.

"Yes the alcohol." Lily rolled her eyes and went back to hastily putting up decorations.

"What's your hurry, Flower?" James asked as he walked over to Lily and hugged her from behind and began kissing her neck.

"James, please stop." Lily said although she made no move to stop him. "I have to hurry; we don't know how long he'll be gone."

"He'll be gone for hours." He mumbled and continued.

"Ew!" Andy said loudly and they looked up as she gave then a hard glare before going back to doodling insults to Sirius on the inflated balloons along with Heather.

"Andy, love, what are you doing?" Remus asked as he walked over to her with a sigh.

"Writing loving messages to the birthday boy."

Remus picked one up and read it. "Hate is the only emotion I'll show you, and it's not love in disguise… Oh Andy..."

"Actually I wrote that one." Heather said looking up.

"Ha, see? I'm not a total prick, she's one too." Andy said.

Remus rolled his eyes. "When are you going to grow up?"

"I'm seventeen; I'm not gonna be growed up for a while." She said drawing a middle finger on a balloon.

Remus gave up and sat down next to them looking at the balloons. He shook his head and took a blank one and took a marker from the table and began writing on the balloon. He stopped after a few seconds when he noticed Andy and Heather staring at him. "What? Can't beat 'um join 'um." He said.

"That's what I like to hear." Andy said and gave him a quick kiss.

"Ew!" Lily said getting back at Andy for interrupting them before.

"Hey, I wasn't giving him a hicky." Andy said and Lily's hand shot to her neck.

"BURN!" Heather yelled.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Almost two hours later the group was still in the flat waiting for Sirius to arrive. Almost all the balloons had messages on them, they all would but Lily took the markers away before they were all as she said "destroyed". They waited and waited for the rebellious teen but he never came back. James was ready to try and find him using a map and his wand until they heard a muffled sound out the closed window.

"What's that horrid racket?" Lily aid making a face.

James, Andy, Remus, Heather and Peter perked up. They seemed to know exactly what it was. "That's an engine revving." Remus said.

"Sounds new." James said.

"Sounds like a bike." Heather said.

"And it looks like one too holy shit!" Andy screamed as she looked out the window feasting her eyes on a brand new, black, shiny motorcycle.

She didn't wait for anyone to go and look before she was threw open the window and grabbed Sirius's broom that was leaning against the wall and few out, she would have crawled down the drain pipe or something but it was four stories up, she's not that stupid.

"Oh my God." She said as she got down there. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God." She murmured as she looked over to bike.

"Thought you'd like this baby." He said with a large smile.

"This is gorgeous." She said her hands hovering over it afraid to touch it.

"And guess what."

"What?" She breathed.

"It can fly."

"It can fly!?"

They looked up to see James landing next to him with his own broom in his hand. "You're kidding me, mate."

"Nope, this baby can fly."

"An enchanted motorcycle, this is one of a kind. How much did you pay for this thing to fly?" James asked.

Sirius remained silent.

"Oh how much?"

He didn't say a word.

"You're kidding!?"

"Kidding what?" Remus asked as he jogged over.

"Sirius paid a fortune for this thing! It's jinxed to _fly_! And he paid a fortune!" James said turning around to face Remus, Lily, Laura and Peter who just walked out of the building.

"How much?" Peter asked.

"He won't say."

"It couldn't be that much." Remus said.

Sirius looked down.

"No." Remus said in disbelief.

He looked back up.

"Oh Merlin." Peter moaned.

"Not _that_ much." Remus asked.

"You know what they're doing?" Heather mumbled turning to the girls slightly. They were all confused on how they could know the price without Sirius saying one word to them.

"No clue." Laura muttered back with a wrinkle in her brow from confusion.

"I think its male talk." Andy said.

"I think they're just idiots." Lily said with her arms crossed, the boy's conversation continued on like this for some time until Lily finally got frustrated with it and spoke to them snapping them all out of their strange argument. "Excuse me." She said and they all looked up at her. "What is this, Sirirus?" She asked.

"This?" he asked and walked over to the bike and put his hands on the seat and handlebars. "This is a 1977 bla –"

"No! I didn't mean that! I mean why did you get it?" She asked more calmly.

"Because you pricks never threw me a party." He responded.

"That's a lie there's a party set in your apartment, hey Sirius is this a –" Andy said pointing to the bike but was cut off when Lily began yelling at her.

"Shut it, Andromeda! You! We have a party upstairs and now you are going to go up there and enjoy it!" She screamed.

"I know."

"What?"

"I know, I know you gave me a party Red, calm down. Besides this is a birthday present, paid for by Remus, James and Peter." He grinned.

"What!?" Said the three in unison.

"Well you guys are too poor to afford it individually so I combined some of your money."

They stared at him wide eyed and Andy and Heather laughed.

"Andy, we combined our Gringotts accounts that was your money too." Remus said and her face went paler, if that was possible for her.

Heather only laughed harder.

"Oh don't laugh Heather I took some of your money too." He grinned.

Heather stopped laughing and her eyes darkened and she folded her arms across her chest. "Shit." She said.

"Hehe," Sirius laughed at all their faces. "Okay, okay, I'm done." He said calming down his laughter. "Don't worry guys; I didn't take much, like 5 gallons out of each. The rest I paid for. You know, mates, it's good to pull a good old fashion prank now and then. You should have seen your faces."

They all stared at him.

"Yeah they looked like that." he grinned.

The three boys tackled Sirius to the ground and they all began wresting on the pavement. The four girls watched this display of testosterone for some time, eventually they began to get bored with watching their actions. Andy out of the blue punched heather in the shoulder. Heather sharply turned her head and glared at Andy who was now looking the other way.

"What the hell!?" She asked and hit her back.

"Hey!" Andy hit her back harder.

Now the two girls were in a punching fight, which Andy was winning. Laura and Lily exchanged glances. "You want to go up and eat that cake?" Lily asked her motioning with her thumb up to the room.

"Sure." Laura shrugged and the two girls walked to the door and began walking up to the flat.

"Cake?" Sirius said his head shooting up.

"Cake?" Heather said looking up as well.

"I want cake." James said and the four teenagers ran to the door fighting each other to get their first.

Andy and Heather exchanged glances and picked up the two brooms that were left behind. "Men." They said in unison and flew back up to the flat only to find that when they got there the window was shut.

"Bitches." Andy said glaring through the glass and at the red head and brunette on the other side.

"I say we kick their asses." Heather said with an equal glare on her face.

"I like the way you think, Fortresn."

"Right back at you, Volk."

The two girls backed up and took their wands out. "They think a window can keep out the so amazing Marauderetts." Andy said with a sly smirk on her face.

"They are so wrong." Heather grinned and the two girls pointed their wands at the window. From the other side Lily and Laura saw what they were about to do and gasped.

"They won't do it." Laura said staring wide eyed at them. "They don't have the guts."

The two girls on the other side of the window grinned wickedly.

"They would!" Lily cried and she quickly ran forward and opened the window. "Fine, just don't break it!"

They flew in and when they landed calmly on the ground. Heather and Andy turned around to look at the window and they exchanged glances. "What the hell." Andy shrugged and both of them took out their wands again and blew the window making glass shatter all over the ground.

"ANDY! HEATHER!" Laura yelled. "What's wrong with you!?"

"Too many things." Heather responded.

"Besides, it's Sirius's place." Andy said.

At the moment four boys came though the door all trying to get through at once which caused some problems. Sirius stopped as he saw the window and then looked at the girls with a confused look on and some of his black hair falling in his face from the race up to the flat. "You know, I'm gonna be so drunk tonight I'm not gonna remember that anyway." He shrugged and walked over to the cake.

"Someone break out the alcohol, we're having a party." James said and the sound of a bottle popping open was heard.

Lisa: ha, heather can't take a punch.

Heather: I can take a punch.

Lisa: Not from me.

Heather: …

Lisa: ha. Okay guys I know this was short but I am on a serious writers block here and I have ideas for another chapter but it might seem like rushing into things. So tell me if I should get to the interesting suspenseful stuff quicker or if ya want more pointless humor chapters.


	4. Trouble

Lisa: Sorry... I'm not even gonna try I know I'm bad I know I have no excuse other then the fact that I'm lazy. But listen to me here I will never abandon this sorry I've worked to hard to get to this point to quit now.

Trouble

The floor of the mischievous teens was unusually quiet; this was mainly because half of them were away. James had taken Lily out for a fancy dinner, Peter was out at his mysterious job and Laura was at her second interview for the ministry as a secretary but at least she was there. This only left Heather, Sirius, Remus and Andy on that floor. They were all being quiet as mice, well kind of...

"Loony, Loopy, Lupin! Loony, Loopy, Lupin!"

Remus had his eyes narrowed and hair disheveled as he opened his door and looked down the hall. He grunted when he saw Sirius yelling the nickname Peeves had gave him so long ago as he walked down the hall to his door. "What do you want Sirius?" Remus asked when Sirius stopped at his door.

"Just want to say hi... Hi!"

"Hello, now, goodbye." He tried closing the door but Sirius's foot caught promptly in the way.

"Oh come on, Moony, can I come in?" He pleaded.

Remus rolled his eyes and then opened the door with a sigh. "Fine, and once again what do you want?"

"Just wanted to check in seeing as Jamie's out with his girl and I knew you'd be here."

"Are you proposin' we dun go out Sirius?" Andy asked as she walked by with a phone to her ear.

He paused. "Yes, yes I am."

Andy had the phone to her shoulder now. "Yeah you're probably right." She lifted the phone back up to her ear and began talking once again. "Yeah, I want a large pizza, half cheese and half double pepperoni." She said.

"Come on guys come to the club."

"I really can't Sirius." Remus said as he walked back into the kitchen. "I have an interview for a job in a few hours."

"Oh, congratulations, Moony, I knew you'd find work."

"Don't celebrate yet, mate, it's only an interview. I don't have the job yet." He said.

"You'll get it I know you will. How about you Andy? Wanna party? I'm sure Heather'll come."

"I'm ordering pizza." She pouted.

"We can get pizza afterwards and then we can get cake."

"Remus?" She asked turning to her boyfriend.

"I don't care." He said waving her off. "Just don't get too drunk."

"Hehe, like you did that one night?" She laughed.

"We all got drunk that night." He reasoned.

Andy moved the phone back p to her ear. "Hey could ya cancel that order...? Thanks, sweet." She said and hung up the phone. "Okay, Sirius, we can go. I'm already dolled up."

"You doll up?"

"I do doll up."

They walked down the hall and Andy pounded on Heather's door without even waiting or her she continued to walk and simply yelled: "HEATHER WE'RE GOING TO THE CLUB!"

Heather opened the door seconds later and stepped out into the hallway. "Cool." She said and walked with them.

The threesome walked down the stairs and out the door into the night air. Sirius contemplated on riding his motorcycle there to show off for the ladies but only two people could fit, unless you really squeezed the third in, and Andy and Heather were not looking to get that close. So they all walked the short walk it was to the club down the street.

When they reached the club they were no longer stopped by the bouncer since they visited that club frequently now. When the doors opened the music and swirling colors hit them like a brick wall. The group smiled and walked into the club.

"Okay," Sirius started, "We spread out get our own girls... or men for you... maybe..."

"Maybe?" Heather asked.

"I have a boyfriend." Andy said looking at him strangely.

"Okay then, Heather you look for men, I'll look for women and Andy... you just... get drunk."

"Will do!" cried the girls in unison.

They wandered off in their own directions to go and have their own fun. They only occasionally got together throughout the evening. Once was when Andy was surprisingly still fairly sober she bumped into Sirius on the dance floor who had been shot down and therefore they began dancing together... for some time. Another time was when Heather met Andy at the bar and they enjoyed jello shots together. And once all of them met up and they drank together at the bar and then went on the dance floor and enjoyed the joys of a dance circle being former around them.

When Sirius was at the bar hitting on some girl he saw Andy out of the corner of his eye walk up to him stumbling slightly. He grinned and laughed as she leaned heavily on the bar, her hair a mess around her face. "Hey, drunkard." He slurred.

"Hey, Sirius." She said running her fingers through her hair to try and get it out of her face.

"Is this your girlfriend!?" Asked the busty blond mortified.

"Ew no tha's only Andy she's nasty." He said smacking Andy's face with his palm. "Ow, she bit me."

"Jus' tells ya not to put yer hand on my face." She slurred back.

"Who is she?" Asked the blond once again.

"It's Andy, she's just Andy." Sirius said.

Andy straightened up and cleared her throat. "I came over to tell ya Heather left with some guy it's just us now."

"Who's Heather!?" She cried.

"Just Heather." He said looking back to her once again. "So she left with some dude?"

"Yeah and he's hot." Andy said smiling widely.

"Hey you have a solid boyfriend who happens to be one of my best mates you keep those eyes away from guys." Sirius said pointing to her, or in the direction he thought she was.

"This is where Heather would insert a smart ass comment but since she ain't here I'll have to do it for her. If I can't look at any guys I guess I'll just have to continue to look at you." She said to Sirius.

"Oh thanks, I love you too... luv." He said with his eyebrows furrowed thinking about what he had just said.

"Hey that girl is gone." Andy said pointing to the empty seat next to him.

"Oh bloody hell." He moaned and Andy came over and sat down in the seat.

"For the best she put a cigarette out in this drink... A perfectly good martini ruined by the ass of a cigarette." Andy said and motioned for another drink.

Almost an hour later the two were still seated at the bar and it was now well into the morning. Sirius looked into his now empty mug of beer and sighed, he lifted his watch to see the time and found several watching floating around. He squinted his eyes to try and tell what the actual time was and when he did he was shocked.

"Hey," he said and pushed Andy.

"What?" She asked and looked to him.

"It's really late, we should leave or we'll get our asses kicked even more then they already will be."

"Okay." She said and downed the last of her beer. "Let's head out."

The two stumbled out of the bar supported one another laughing and snickering at unknown things. At this pace it was take some time for the two drunken friends to get back to their building. As they walked down the abandoned street all the lamps around them went out.

"Tha's weird." Sirius said as he looked up.

Andy didn't say anything even thought she might have tried, she just kept laughing uncontrollably. But in a flash she lifted her head and the laughing ended abruptly. "Hey... you hear somethin'?" Here werewolf hearing may have been clouded by the alcohol she had consumed but that did not mean it was gone entirely.

"No..." He said and looked up as well. "You do?"

"Yeah..."

The last thing they heard and saw was someone yelling something inaudible from the darkness, a bright light coming at them and then the two Hogwarts graduates were surrounded in darkness.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"They're late." Laura said pacing Remus's flat. She went over there when she got home and Heather locked her out. Apparently she had a guest. When she realized that Andy was not yet home yet she wasn't worried but after a couple hours she was and when she realized Sirius was not home yet either she became really worried.

"I'm sure they're headed home now." Remus said trying to be calm but failing. His foot was tapping repeatedly on the floor and he was biting his lip.

"When you leave?" Lily asked Heather who had come over when she got word that Sirius and Andy were not back yet.

"I don't know, hours ago." She said leaning against the wall with her arms folded across her chest. "But none the less they really should be here by now. The suns even going to rise soon!"

"That's it I'm going back to look." James said grabbing his coat off the couch; they had already gone out a few hours early.

"James!" Lily said grabbing his arm. "It's too late! I don't want you going out alone."

"I'll go too." Remus said standing up and taking his worn coat.

"Me too," said Peter who had missed the first search since he wasn't home yet.

"I want to go too." Heather said walking forward.

"No, we need people staying here in case they do make it home." James said stopping her.

"You make them sound like dogs." Laura said her brow creased in worry.

"In a way they are." Heather said attempting to lighten the mood slightly, but she failed.

"Okay we'll be back in a few." James said.

"Come back soon." Lily said hugging him. She was so worried about the two, they were reckless she knew something like this would happen eventually. They crossed paths with the wrong people and picked a fight most likely and whoever hurt them could still be wandering the streets. They could hurt James, Remus and peter as well.

"I will and I promise we'll be back with them." James said and gave her a kiss.

"I pray to God you do." Heather said once again leaning against the wall with her arms folded.

The three teenagers walked out the door to begin a new search leaving the three girls in the flat to stare at the door and clock waiting.

Lisa: Oh no! What has happened to Sirius and Andy!

Heather: (gasp)

Lisa: I have a idea train goin' through now so I'll update quicker, this along with my AU so those of you who read that look for an update on that too.

Heather: And since Lisa has been so bad at updating we're not going to name the people who reviewed all that long time ago and she's just gonna post it.

Lisa: That is true.


	5. Trapped

Lisa: Welcome back! Here is another installment of the amazing story I have created...

Heather: Riiiiight...

Lisa: Yeah... so read it or else.

Heather: Or else what?

Lisa: You really wanna find out?

Heather: No.

Lisa: Thought so.

Trapped

Ow, was Sirius's first thought as he regained his consciousness, where am I? He thought still with his eyes closed. His hangover was too intense to try and open his eyes now. Okay, he thought, I'm on something hard, I must be on my kitchen floor, I've woken up here before, and it's cold. Not a problem, I didn't turn on the heat when I came home. Wait, came home from where?

Sirius thought back as far as his hung-over head could think back, okay I was at a club with the guys... not wait the girls. Andy and Heather, yeah them. We all got really drunk, really, really drunk, Heather went back to her place I think, Andy told me when I was talking to that hot blond. Then we went home after a couple hours or maybe it was five minutes oh well, it doesn't matter. We started going home, it was dark, and late, the lights went out... There was a big bright light... that's it. Sirius tried to remember after that but soon found that he had nothing.

Sirius tried opening his eyes, he expected to meet with a bright light but found that he was actually in a dark place. Opening them more he found he was defiantly not on his kitchen floor. What the hell he thought as he tried to sit up, only finding that that hurt too much. He winced and slowly moved his arms around so he could prop himself up on his elbows. Once he was in a decent position he looked around and surveyed his surroundings, the floor was cement, the walls were cement, it looked like a cell. There was one window but something on it must have been blocking the light from coming in.

Wait, he thought in the middle of his observations.

Andy.

Where was she?

He bolted up ignoring the pain he felt from the hangover and the aching all over his body from unknown reasons to him. Quickly he scanned the room and he spotted Andy not far away. Her long hair was limply displayed all around her and her back was to him.

Sirius rushed over to her as fast as his injured body could carry him. When he got to her body he carefully turned her over and checked her vitals. Living with Remus and James in a dorm for seven years didn't teach him anything. Thankfully she was still breathing, she was just unconscious.

He let out a sigh and then looked her over, the only visible injury she had was a small gash on her head. Sirius cursed slightly when he saw it and bit his over shirt, ripping a piece off.

"Damn, Andy, I liked this shirt." He muttered as he began patting her head with the cloth. It didn't seem to be bleeding anymore, but when it was it bled a lot.

After a few minutes of this a quiet moan escaped from her moth and immediately caught Sirius's attention. "Andy?" he asked as he leaned over her so he could look at her face directly. "You awake?"

"Mmmm..." She moaned again her eyes still not open. "Remus...?"

"No, baby, sorry but it is I, Sirius the Great." He said with a sad smile on his face.

"Sirius?" She opened her eyes and looked around with some difficulty; Sirius caught a wince on her face. "Where the hell are we?"

"I wish I knew." He sighed. "You okay?"

"Yeah..." She said quietly but regaining some of her strength. "How bad is the cut?"

"How'd you know you had one?"

"I can smell the blood." She said trying to sit up, she succeeded with some help from Sirius. "It's only two days 'til the full moon." She murmured.

"Well we'll be out of here by then." Sirius assured as he took the cloth away from her head.

Andy turned and faced him, her gray eyes boring into his dark blue ones. "And how do you know that?" She asked quietly. "You don't know where we are. You don't know the time, or how long we've been out. Days could have passed for all we know the full moon could be tonight. I'm too hung-over to tell, my senses are still blocked I won't know for a couple hours and by then it may be too late."

"Don't talk like that." He said. "I'm sure we'll get out of here." But he wasn't sure, in face he was very scared, not only for his and Andy's sake of being trapped here but if the full moon really was that close he was not only worried for himself of dying or getting bitten by her if either of them couldn't leave. But for her sake, if she bit him or God forbid killed him she would never forgive herself. She never told him that, but Remus has told him that's how he felt, and he doubted she felt differently. "Just sit tight," he said after a pause. "We'll get out in no time, no need to fret." He grinned trying to lighten the melancholy mood.

He was successful Andy cracked a smile. "And people say I'm the optimistic one," she said.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The six pranking teenagers walked up to the desk of the ministry. They were in the department for missing persons, apparently during this time of Voldemort around there were many missing witches and wizards. James marched up to the lady who sat there writing on some parchment, when he started to speak she held up her finger and he sighed. This really could not wait.

After a few more seconds she looked up. "Hello, Sir, how may I help you?"

"I'd like to report two missing persons reports." He said and she nodded as she took out a form.

"Their names please." She said getting her quill ready.

"Sirius Orion Black," he waited for her to finish. "And Andromeda Athena Volk." He said and she wrote the names down.

"Ages?"

"Sirius is eighteen and Andromeda is seventeen."

"Time they went missing?"

"Last night, we're not sure of the time."

"Place?"

"That new club."

"I know the place, thank you, Sir, I'll have an Auror over to talk to you shortly." She said with a small, sympathetic smile on her face.

James found her odd; it seemed she had done this too many times. Like filing cases like this she did dozens of times a day. The group walked over to the chairs but only a few sat. Remus did but he immediately buried his head in his hands.

This was just a horrible time for him, not only had Andy gone missing but he also did not get the job he interviewed for. The second they found out he was a werewolf the entire attitude of his interviewer changed, of course he tried to play it off and be polite but by now Remus could tell hew as utterly disgusted by him. Despite that Remus kept his calm exterior, shook his hand and said thank you. He was so used to this by now it wasn't even funny (not that it would be anyway), this was the fourth time that week he was shot down because he was a werewolf.

Lily sat as well and forced James to sit next to her, she was constantly soothing him and giving them all reassuring words. James was jumpy and restless, he did not want to sit but Lily gave him no other choice. Peter was sitting next to them tapping his foot sharply on the ground and biting his bottom lip deep in thought.

Laura was pacing in front of them playing with a strand of brunette hair that strayed from the rest that wasn't bothered to pull back. She was nervous, terrified, she always cared deeply about the ones close to her and when they were in danger she would do anything to help. But this was a situation where she may not have been able to help. Heather was leaning against the wall her face tight and staring at an unknown object. No one messed with her friends, especially these friends who she no longer considered friends but her brother and sister.

They were unsure how they sat or stood there but when a man in Auror robes walked up to them they were all snapped out of their trances. "Excuse me; are you the families of Sirius Black and Andromeda Volk?" He asked looking at a sheet them back up at them.

They nodded and they all stood up looking at the man expectantly. "We're close enough." Remus said as he stood.

"Alright then, follow me." He said and turned around. "My name is Robert Johnson; I'll be the Auror looking into this case. Please accept my deepest consolation. And I'm sorry but the only room we have open right now is an interrogation room, my office is, er, preoccupied."

They walked in the small, gray room; this room certainly did not help the mood they were all in. If anything it just made it worse. He conjured up a few more chairs so everyone would have a seat. He sat down across from that and took a few papers out of a file.

"I got some information on the missing persons; they're going up on the missing persons board in the front now. I'd like to ask some questions, it says you don't know when they went missing at the club, do you have any general idea?"

"Well," Heather spoke up. "It had to of been after eleven, because I left at around eleven."

"You were there with them?"

"Yeah, um, I left when I met someone," she said a little hesitantly. "I talked to Andy before I left, she seemed pretty wasted."

"And you didn't think that you should stay and watch out for your friend?"

"Well no," Heather said. "I mean, it's Andy and Sirius. They're known for taking care of themselves, I didn't think..." She trailed off.

"Come on, don't go bombing Heather about this, she didn't do anything, all of us would have done that same thing. She's right; it is just Andy and Sirius. They're the ones that you wouldn't think this would happen too. But they're the ones that it's most likely to happen to." Remus said thinking. "Merlin, they're so reckless. I should have known they couldn't go alone they're too wild and insane to be frank. I should have canceled the interview and went with them." He rested his head in his hand, blaming himself fully for what happened.

"Hey, Rem?" James said putting his hand on Remus's shoulder and shaking him but he got no response. "Moony?" Remus looked up at him. "Not your fault you had no idea this would happen, you're just as innocent as Heather. Besides, you couldn't have canceled that interview; you know you need this job."

"I didn't get it." He moaned, "They shot me down, this week sucks so much."

"I'm sorry;" Said Johnson, "But I do have a few more questions."

"Proceed." Remus said motioning with his hand.

"When did you notice they were missing?"

"Some time around two we got a little worried. Normally they're not that bad, but then again..." James said smiling slightly. "But then two came around and they should have been back, we were all waiting for them and then three thirty came around we started searching for them. We didn't find them, then did it again about an hour later. Tried getting sleep but I doubt any of us had any, and now first thing in the morning we're here."

"I was reading their information they have here and I understand that Ms. Volk is a werewolf." He looked up from the files. "Is that true?"

"I don't see how that's relevant." Remus said quickly before anyone else could say anything else.

"Not usually its just it is very close to the full moon and I was wondering if possibly her –"

"If you're going to say what I think you're going to say then you are dead wrong." Remus's temper was beginning to rise but his calm exterior never changed. "Andy would never do such a thing, no werewolf trying to make it in this society would. And I do not understand why people insist that werewolves are dangerous even on days when they are human."

"Mr. Lupin, I understand you are a werewolf as well."

"What does that have to do with anything?" James said slightly offended.

"Where do you live?"

"I don't see how that's relevant." Laura said, very close to tears but her voice remained strong none the less. "Can we please get back on the matter at hand?"

"This is now the matter at hand, Ms...?"

"Avalon." Laura said stiffly.

"Ms. Avalon, I am supposed to examine every part of this case and this is a part of this case."

"You're a prejudice bastard." Lily said quietly speaking to him for the first time.

"Excuse me?" Johnson said raising his eyebrows.

"Because they're Lycans you're going to discriminate against them," she said. "I'm appalled, you're an Auror you're supposed to help everyone not only those you claim to like. You can go to hell!" She cried her voice rising. "I do not want to work with someone who is only going to focus on the fact that Andy and Remus are werewolves. Not the fact that they are human beings who need to be treated as anyone else in this world!" She stormed out of the room slamming the door behind her.

"If you weren't an Auror I would defiantly punch you in the face you bloody prick." James said standing up and following his girlfriend out.

Heather walked up to him and opened her mouth a few times wanting to say something cruel and witty like she usually did but finding nothing she grunted and walked out.

Laura shot him a disapproving glare (or what she thought was a glare) and stormed out followed by Peter who glared for a second.

The only one that was left was Remus who sat in his chair glaring daggers at the man. Being so close to the full moon his eyes were a strange hybrid of his normal blue and the wolfish gold due to how high his temper had grown. He could tell the man was uneasy, as if Remus would jump and attack him at any second and Remus wanted too.

"Good day Mr. Johnson," Remus growled, literally, at the man making him jump slightly.

When Remus walked out of the room his temper was still fuming, anyone who looked at him and did not know him would never know. But his friends had known him for years, they knew when he was mad and now he was really mad.

"Remus...?" Lily asked quietly as he came out of the room a few seconds later, he continued to just walk past them, an unreadable expression on his face.

The group followed him over to the elevator and they left the ministry without another word. They did try and get their friend to speak but at the moment he was too angry to say a word without snapping at everyone. When they left the ministry Remus briskly walked down the street, he still hadn't said a word.

"We don't need them." Remus said startling everyone by him sudden words.

"What?" Heather asked confused.

"I said we don't need them." He repeated through gritted teeth.

"But we do... don't we?" Laura asked timidly.

"No, you forget I am a bloody _werewolf_."

"Remus, I know you're mad about that guy but we can get someone else –" Lily began but she was cut off.

"No, well I mean I am, but I'm a werewolf." They all gave him blank stares. "Look, I've been one for years and years, longer then most my age. I'm adapted to my senses, you remember in school I always told you no one was around, when we didn't have the map of course, I'm better now. My senses are stronger then they were when I was thirteen and fourteen. As much as I despise this comparison I'm like a bloody bloodhound."

"So, you're saying you can try and smell them out?" Heather asked with her eyebrows raised. "Well that's... kind of disturbing..."

"So why didn't you do this last night?" James asked.

"My emotions affect my senses; the more upset I am the more they'll be off. You know if I get drunk my senses are just like yours right?" They nodded and looked slightly offended. "Well it's the same way with my emotions, now I couldn't do anything because I'm quite frankly really pissed off but if I can cool off I'm sure I'd be able to find out where they went or at least where they disappeared."

"Why hasn't anyone done this before for the missing people?" Peter asked.

"We're werewolves, Pete, for one people don't trust us, two most werewolves wouldn't want to do this for the people who hate us, and third it's hard with wizarding kidnappings they usually aparate to leave, they rarely walk away with the victim. And I can't track if they did aparate."

"Then what happens if they did aparate, we couldn't find out where they went." James said.

"I have a plan, but it's a little illegal, hard and highly dangerous." Remus said.

"We figured out how to become animagus when we were in _school_, mates, we can figure this out. We're older and smarter." James said.

"Well one out of two." Heather muttered.

"We can do this," James continued. "Now come on, we know the road they probably took home let's start there, how you feeling remus? You cooled off?"

"As cool as I'm going to get." He said and James nodded, "The let's go."

Lisa: Whoo! Now don't get to anxious people I have a lot more stuff to push aside until I can really get through this mess I created for myself.

Heather: Oh I'm sure they're on the edge of their computer chairs.

Lisa: Better be.

Heather: Thank you for the reviews although you should be thanking me because I posted this.

Lisa: Some of you may recall, back in 'From Beginning to End' I was having a lot of computer trouble at one point, well... it's happened again. For some reason this God damned site is not working properly and really pissing me off. No offense to all the lovely people who make this wonderful site possible.

Heather: ... Yeah so look out for another update...


	6. Family

Lisa: ... (not going to say a word) except for these words, we switch between seeing Andy and Sirius to the marauders and marauderetts a lot in this chap so be ready for that.

Family

"What happened!?"

James had just opened the door to Andy and Remus's flat when a sharp knocking was heard. When he walked over to open it he was faced with Josephine Volk, Andy's mother, along with Cassiopeia and Ares, her sister and brother.

"Mrs. Volk..." James said as they pushed their way into the flat.

"What happened!?" Josephine said again as she looked at her daughters best friends.

"We don't know." Remus said looking at the floor with his hands in his pockets. "They went to the bar and they just... didn't come back..."

"I was in my livin' room, readin', mindin' my own business trustin' that my daughter was perfectly safe in 'er home with 'er boyfriend and then I get an owl sayin' she has gone missin'!" She practically screamed.

"Ain't the ministry doin' anythin'?" 'Res said in a calmer voice but it was wavering slightly.

"The auror –" Peter started but was quickly cut off by James, the last thing they needed to hear was that the auror assigned to Andy and Sirius's case was prejudice.

"Is working as hard as he can," James said shooting Peter a look. "They don't have too many leads."

"The letter said Sirius was with her, was he?" Cas asked in a quiet voice.

"He was." Heather said sighing heavily.

"Oh my God," Josephine cried covering her face with her hand trying to hold back tears. "First her father and now her..."

"No, no, ma, no, Andy ain't gonna die." Cas said, "She's strong, she knows how to take care of herself, she ain't gonna die like daddy."

"How long have ya known her, Andy wouldn't let somethin' like this kill her, she would want to go in a drag race or, or, on a broom, or some stupid, wild and crazy stunt." Ares said trying to comfort his distraught mother.

"That doesn't make me feel any better." Josephine said rubbing her palms over her eyes.

"Ya know what, ma, I bet right now she's sittin' wherever she is right now ready to kill somethin' 'cause her 'flawless eye shadow' is smeared." Cas said.

"Andy's alive and so is Sirius; we're going to find them with or without the help of the auror." Remus said still looking down at the ground but there was a hint of determination in his voice.

"We'll help; we'll do anythin' to help find our baby sister and Sirius. By now he's like family." 'Res said shrugging.

"Thanks," Heather said.

"'Ave the aurors tried _anythin'_ yet?" Cas said with a furrowed brow.

"No... not, not really anything." Laura said stuttering slightly. "They're trying."

'Res looked down and rubbed his head, his attention then went to his mother who was shedding silent tears as the group talked. "Come on, ma, let's go back to the hotel, ya need some rest." He then turned to the teenagers. "We'll come back later and talk."

They nodded and watched as the distraught family left. When they were gone the group sighed and moaned about the current situation. "How do we tell them that the auror is hardly going to try and find their daughter because he's a son of a bitch."

"We don't, we keep on making them think that the aurors are looking and we'll put our plan into effect." James said.

"But what about Cas and 'Res? They obviously know something isn't right." Heather responded. "What do we tell them?"

"Well first we find out if they know do in fact know something, if they do we tell them the truth. They can handle it, her mums obviously not taking this to well and, well, who bloody hell would." He replied.

"Did you expect her too?" Peter said with an eyebrow raised.

"No..." James moaned. "Okay, so tonight we'll take them to the street where we think – " Remus raised his eyebrow at him, he was the one who 'smelled' them out to the place where they were taken and was offended that James wouldn't trust his senses. "We know they were taken and try and perform that spell to find them. They're older then us they're more experienced, I'm sure they'll help."

"They can help and they will, being over protective sibling is what they do. They'll do anything for Andy back and like they said Sirius is like family." Remus said. "So let's wait until they come back and we'll go out and find them."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"I wanna go home." Sirius drawled lying on the hard cold floor with his head buried in his arms under him. They were both starving, hungover, tired, cold and all around sick of everything. They were also running out of conversation topics and were desperate. "I wanna go home and watch Monty Python and eat popcorn and have a short lived relationship with a girl with a big rack."

"Me too... except for the girl part..." Andy said lying on her back on the other side of the room. "And maybe the Monty Python part... maybe I'll take Rocky Horror..."

"Freak show." Sirius mumbled.

"Sexy trannie," Andy corrected.

"Disturbing."

"Funny."

"Wrong on many levels."

"Whore eating bush."

"Unnatu... wait what?" He asked confused.

"You've never been to see a Rocky Horror show?" Andy asked surprised.

"No."

"Oh my God you have never lived. They're amazin'."

"When have you gone?" Sirius asked.

"Well I've gone a few times. I'm a Rocky Whore-er, I've even convinced Remus to go once. They bought him up to the front, it was great. But I don't think he was too happy 'cause there was this guy dressed as Frank there and I kind of made out with him for a few seconds after the show, I was dressed as Columbia by the way, but it was all in the rocky spirit." Andy said with a nervous smirk on his face.

"You made out with a guy? And you were dressed as one of the characters!?"

"Well yeah, I'm a pure Rocky fan." She said with a smile. "But Remmy forgave me and said it wasn't that bad seein' as the guy was gay. But I'll let ya in on a secret, he wasn't he may have been dressed as a transvestite but that does not mean he is gay and trust me, he wasn't." Andy said smiling broadly.

Sirius stared at her dumbfounded with a small smile playing at his mouth. "You made out with a stranger?"

"No, we're usually seen together during shows, his name's John. He's known for bein' a damn good Frankie and he was doin' this long before me. But shut up its not kinky he's only a year older then me. He helped me with my Colombia costume in fact..."

"You are too weird."

"One of the reasons why ya'll love me so much."

"So... let me get this straight... you have costumes for The Rocky Horror Picture Show... fishnets, thigh high fishnets, hot pants, garter belt, corset, elbow high gloves, red lipstick, black heels..."

"Yes, including a sparkly hat and coat." Andy replied.

"And why have I not seen you in any of these fishnets, corsets or heels?!" Sirius cried out making his head hurt. "Oh, ow."

"See ya only hurt yourself with your stupid questions." She said despite the fact he outburst had hurt her head as well.

After a silence Sirius spoke up again his voice now seeming to echo through the empty room. "So, how's your head."

"Better, kinda hurts now that ya brought it up." She glared. "How long do you think it's been?" She asked her internal clock sill not working to it's full potential.

"I dunno, it can't be that late though. I'm sure someone will come in a little while."

"Let's just hope it's the right someone." She murmured. That was a subject they avoided as much as possible, exactly who they were taken by. They just didn't want to think about it, if was who they thought it might be that would be too horrible to even think.

After another pause in pure silence for almost fifteen minutes he spoke once again. "So does your collection of costumes include thigh high boots...?"

At that question a fingerless leather glove was thrown at his face making a loud slapping sound as it made contact with his face. "Ow." He said once again.

"Hey, Sirius, is my eye shadow smeared...?" She asked.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

About an hour later the marauders and marauderetts were waiting for the twins to return to the flat. It was mostly silence except for the TV which was playing a show quietly, but no one was really paying any attention. Lily was sitting in a big chair with a book on her lap but her eyes were still on the one page she had been looking at for the past ten minutes.

Remus seemed to be in a trance with the pendulum on the clock that hung on the wall, the soft ticking overpowering all other sound in the room. After many more countless ticks there was a knock on the door to the flat. Heather walked over to the door before anyone else moved and without even asking who it was she opened it. "Hey..." She mumbled as Ares and Cas walked in the room.

"So let's get down to business." 'Res said clapping his hands together and rubbing them together. "Before ya ask anything, we already went to the ministry, we know why the aurors ain't doin' anythin' an' we didn't tell ma."

"She wouldn't be able to take that." Cas said leaning against the back of the couch. "With everythin' 'bout dad an' all. But what's your plan, we know ya'll got somthin' up your sleeves."

"Okay, well Remus has this idea, a spell, apparently its hard to perform, it's dangerous, illegal but he and, well, all of us think if we're able to make it work we can find Andy and Sirius." Lily explained.

"I think I know what ya'll talkin' about an' yer so lucky we're here, ya'll couldn't have a chance in hell without us. A buncha teenagers can't perform this spell." 'Res said putting his hands on his hips.

"Well so are we, we sort of figured that without some older wizards we wouldn't have a chance." Laura said wringing her fingers together nervously.

"Ain't that much older." Cas murmured folding her arms.

"Old enough." 'Res said. "So when do we leave?"

"Now." James said and the group rose from the spots across the room and began walking out the door.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The two Gryffindors sat in the cold, small dark room not speaking to one another. As the silence continued on you could hear all the sounds around them, not that there were many. But as they sat both of them shot up at the same time hearing footsteps outside their cell.

"You hear that?" Andy asked in a small hoarse voice.

"Yeah... Merlin I hope it's someone who can get us the hell out of here." He said.

"God I hope..."

After excruciatingly long seconds the heavy cement door slowly opened. As the two held their breath and crept toward one another for protection the door opened. On the other side was not something they wanted to see.

Lisa: Oh my God a cliffhanger. I'm so sorry but I couldn't resist and I swear another update will come so much faster then this one will and an update for my other story will come too. Oh and also I apologize for the shortness of this chap.

Heather: (silent)

Lisa: ...

Heather: ...

Lisa: ...

Heather: Boo.

Lisa: ohmigod!! ... shut up.


	7. Interrogation

Lisa: Welcome all loyal readers to the next chapter I shall warn you now things get a little graphic so if don't have a strong stomach don't read. Personally I don't think it's that bad but ya never know.

Interrogation 

Sirius and Andy stood frozen in their spots at the three people who stood at the door. Or at least what they assumed were people, they had on dark hooded robes, their faces could not be seen in the shadows that they created. The silence was deafening, you could hear a pin drop. The two Gryffindors continued to stare for the longest time until the figures stepped into the room their shoes echoing on the cement floor.

Finally Sirius's vocal cords began to work long enough for him to speak. "Who the hell are you!? What do you want!?" He yelled at them in his hoarse voice.

They remained silent as they walked toward them more, the two grabbed onto each other more for protection. The one figure grabbed Sirius by the arm roughly, Sirius violently pushed him away hitting him but the figure swiftly took out a wand and mumbled something. Sirius felt a sharp pain on his shoulder and cried out. He looked down to see blood seeping out of a large gash and through his shirt.

"Get the hell away!" Andy screamed at the top of her lungs her voice cracking.

Another grabbed her as well pulling her away from Sirius, as much as the two exhausted teenagers tried to fight they were no match for the full grown wizards wielding wands. Andy managed to punch one in the face and blood was on her knuckles as he pulled away but she learned that was a grave mistake. She, like Sirius, felt a pain and on her side a large cut had opened and blood poured out freely.

"Get off her!" Sirius yelled as they forced her to stay in the room and they drug him away. The door shut behind him as the three left Andy in the cold, dark room alone.

"Sirius! SIRIUS!" She cried as she pounded her fists on the cement door only doing more harm to herself then good.

Sirius was pushed down the hallway; he fought the entire time despite the white hot pain that erupted from his shoulder. He didn't know how long he was fighting but eventually he was pushed into another room, it was like the other one only there was a chair. It looked like an interrogation chair.

"What's wrong with you people!?" He yelled as they forced him down and magically bound his hands and feet to the chair making him unable to move.

"What's wrong with us?" One replied coolly. "What's wrong with you Mr. Black? Why are you conversing with such animals as that she-wolf?"

Sirius was slightly shocked by the fact they knew his name, but he recovered quickly seeing as many of the people in the wizarding world knew his name. "Leave Andy alone! What do you want with me!?"

"Why did you go against your family! You defile the name Black and you are a mud blood lover and traitor!"

"Who the hell are you!" he cried again, this one seemed to know him well, and the other two seemed to just stand by the door as guards.

"Never mind who I am! If our questions are not answered then that shall be the least of your worries." He replied his face close to Sirius's and Sirius could feel his breath on his face.

Sirius remained silent.

"Why did you betray your family? The people who cared for you and protected you for so many years?"

"Cared? Protected?" He said and his memory flooded back to that night when he arrived on James's doorstep bruised and bloodied after a meeting with his father. "Like hell they ever cared or protected me!"

The back of a hand came in contact with his face. "They cared and protected you; you were just a poor son not worthy of anything. You couldn't see when they tried to love you; you were just to busy being a disobedient, arrogant, selfish little brat! They saw that after a while, a waste of space you are."

He kept quiet.

"Nothing to say? Are you finally realizing how worthless you are?"

Sirius laughed faintly despite the situation. "You can't get to me that easy." He murmured, "I lived in a boys dorm for seven years, I'm not _that_ hard to break."

The man growled. "Where do you meet?" he asked finally.

"What...?" Sirius groaned feeling the effects of the backhanding.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about! Where do you and the rest of your little order met!?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Sirius yelled and felt a fist instead of a backhand.

"But you do! Now tell us before you really regret it!"

"But I don't know I swear!" Sirius cried.

"Not the right answer. _Crucio_!" He said his wand pointed at Sirius.

Sirius never had an unforgivable performed on him before and now he knew just why they were called the Unforgivable Curses. Pain flowed through his body he couldn't even try not to scream. He bit his lip and tasted copper after a few seconds, but he didn't even acknowledge it, the pain was too intense. It seemed as though the pain lasted for hours but in reality it was probably only a few seconds. Finally it ended and Sirius moaned in the lasting pain, his head and bent down on his chest and if he wasn't tied to the chair he would be on the floor by now.

"Now," Said the man kneeling down to Sirius. "Where do you met?"

Sirius couldn't speak.

He sighed in frustration and stood up once again. "Perhaps I used that curse too soon; it may be a few minutes before you begin talking to me again. But in that time I would like to explain a few things to you." he paused. "You will talk; you have no choice in the matter. If you don't you will suffer and that little half breed in the holding cell will as well. You will both die and with my word I can promise you it will not be quickly, think about that. So, if you want to spare your life as well as hers I suggest you begin speaking to me, traitor."

Sirius's breathing was labored and he mumbled something.

"What was that? Didn't quite catch it."

"I don' kno' wha' yer talkin' abou'..." Sirius slurred heavily his head still hung down on his chest.

"Oh but you do, stop playing games with me because you will not win." He hissed.

Sirius didn't say anything and this just made the man angrier. "Dammit! Talk you bloody ingrate!" he yelled throwing a hard blow to Sirius's stomach knocking the wind out of him, this not at all good with his breath already labored and his weakened state.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"This is the place?" Cas muttered as she walked around the road their pair went missing on. "And where's the spot ya think they were taken?" She asked over at them.

"Over here," Remus said and he walked across the road to the other side. "I'm almost positive it was here."

"Almost?" James asked turning his head to Remus.

"I am." Remus said firmly.

"Then let's get this started." He said and walked over to the spot. "I read that this spells works with a five foot radius so even if we're a little off it'll still work. You have the potion we made earlier?"

"Yup," Laura said quietly stepping forward with the flask full of the foul smelling potion. "Here." She said handing it to James. She had been incredibly quiet ever since it happened and when she did speak she never spoke in a full sentence.

"We're supposed to pour it around the area we believe they disappeared to." 'Res said taking the potion from James and doing so. "Then we have to chant the incantation, all of us who want to go inside the circle." He continued.

He poured a circle and the group stepped in, for the next five minutes they continuously chanted the complicated incantation. The twins getting extremely tired and leaning on one another for support, they were using their energy the most seeing as they were older and they could take it. After another couple of minutes they now had to rely on the others for support, they could hardly say the incantation any longer. The teenagers were also getting exhausted, they to were leaning on one another and their voices getting weaker, now they understood one of the reasons why this spell was illegal.

Soon it seemed like the world around them was swirling and the colors were mixing. "It's working." Cas breathed with a smile on her face.

It took the longest time but the colors were finally all swirled together into one brownish color around them. They were being transported to the place where the people apparated too. But they never got to see what this place looked like, before the colors came back together and formed shaped they all passed out from sheer exhaustion.

It wasn't for another couple hours that they were all revived. 'Res was the first to regain his consciousness. Taking in his surrounding he saw that if he landed only another two inchest to the left he would have apparated in a wall. That was one of the big risks of this spell. You had no idea where you would reappear, it was another reason why it was illegal. He looked around at the unconscious wizards and witches around him. He slowly took out his wand and waved it over them one at a time waking them all up.

None of them spoke, all they did was try and regain their strength. James made his way over to Lily and the two embraced for the time as they recovered. After a few minutes of silence Heather looked at her watch and her eyes went wide. "Oh Merlin, guys, its past twelve, we're late hours have gone by."

"Shit..." James sighed grabbing her wrist and looking at the watch. "Okay, mates, we have to get moving. Now." He said.

"But where, this place is obviously not where they are." Peter said.

"Well they probably moved," he James, "Remus?"

Remus nodded and sniffed the air a few times, 'Ries and Cas did the same thing, they may not have been werewolves but they were the children of a werewolf and therefore do have wolfish qualities. "They were defiantly here." Remus said and then sniffed one more time. "And I smell blood."

"Whose?" Cas asked with wide eyes and a panicked look on her face.

He sniffed a few more times, "It's not all human... it must be Andy's..."

"Oh no." 'Res said and covered his mouth with his hand.

"But it's not a lot, only a few drops here and there... C'mon, I think they went this way." Remus continued to try and smell out the path they took, but it was hard. As time went by the smell kept getting fainter and fainter, soon it would disappear. They walked along a back road somewhere, they had no idea where or even if they were still in London. But very abruptly as they walked Remus stopped sort making James almost bump into him. "What?" James asked and Remus's hand moved up to his mouth to silence him.

"There's a bunch of people around the corner." He whispered so quietly they had to strain their ears to hear him.

"Who?" Heather asked praying that it was someone who wasn't going to attack them.

"Don't know... smells familiar though..." Remus said furrowing his brow and cocking his head slightly as he slowly walked forward.

"Good familiar or bad familiar?" Lily asked her voice wavering.

"I don't know." He replied as he continued to walk.

"Then are you sure you should be walking to it? What if its bad familiar?" James asked exchanging looks with Heather who was standing next to him, on his other side was Lily.

"You never know what's going to happen. And in this situation I think I'd rather take a chance of help rather then walk away from it."

"But what if it isn't help?" Cas said.

"Then I'm taking that chance, if you guys don't want too then you can stay behind for all I care." Remus said as he advanced keeping his eyes set forward on his destination.

They all looked to one another, thinking the same thing. Remus wasn't thinking like himself, he was so determined and set to find them that all his common sense was gone. He was the rational one, the one who thought things out but now he was rash and not thinking. This could not end well.

As they all crept forward not wanting to stay behind like Remus suggested they began to hear voices ahead of them. They were too hushed for any of them to make anything out but Remus certainly heard them because he bolted forward and whipped around the corner. The group followed him and when they turned the corner they all had to stop short because Remus was standing right there motionless.

They looked up to see the people and were shocked with who they saw.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Andy sat in the cold, dark room, her hands were bloodied from pounding on the rough, hard door. Dark lines were running down her face from her makeup smearing due to tears she shed. But now, all she was doing was staring straight ahead at the wall opposite her. Worried plagued her mind, for Sirius what they were doing to him what they would do to her, if they would get out alive. Too many things.

As she sat in the room Lord knows how long time had passed before the door opened once again. She looked up, she tried to hide her fear from whoever was entering the room but she had a pretty good idea she was failing. But no one entered the room instead a body was pushed inside. She felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as she looked at the body. Slowly she crawled on her knees over to it and her lip quivered as her thoughts were confirmed. It was Sirius, although he was on his stomach she knew that shoulder length, black, straightened hair anywhere.

As she gently turned his over she let out a cry at the condition he was in, his face was horribly bruised and his nose was bloody and his lip slit open. A large gash was still bleeding on his side and there were many more cuts and bruised all over his body. "Oh God, Sirius." She murmured.

She unbuttoned his torn and ragged dress shirt and put it to the side. His whole chest was covered in forming bruises, some may not have been their yet but in time they would look terrible. As she examined him and wrapped makeshift bandages from his short around him she failed to notice him stirring awake.

"Hello, beautiful." He breathed in a voice hardly his own. Andy perked up at the sound and moved into his line of vision.

"Hey, how'd you know it was me?" She knew, stupid question.

"I doubt the men with the nice pretty wands would do this." He said with a small smirk on his face despite the fact it had to have hurt him. "You look like shit." He commented to her and she gave him a surprised look.

Yes, she would admit that she did look bad. Her left eye was swollen and bruised form their fight with the men earlier, her shoulder was still weak and cut badly and the cut on her head had bleed through the bandage Sirius placed on it, it reopened when she was thrown to the floor by the men.

"Man, you're one to talk." Andy said lightly with a sad smile.

"You've been crying." He commented again, Andy pondered about how his eyes were now closed once again, they were only open for a few seconds, and he knew her entire appearance.

"No I haven't." She lied.

"Don't lie to me, you know better that that."

"What if I do?" She asked putting some cloth on the gash on his side making him wince. "Sorry."

"The Great Andromeda Volk says sorry, hell must have frozen over."

"Shut up." She said softly. "Christ, Sirius, what the hell did they do to ya?"

"Oh you know, the usual wizarding torture." He brushed off and Andy finished with the bandaging. "Hey, Andy, they're coming right?"

"Of course," she said although she wasn't sure she believed it entirely herself. She was sure their friends would have been here by now playing the big hero thing. Remus would come in pick her up and carry her away into the setting sun. Like hell that would happen, more like he'd yell at her for being stupid she'd yell for not getting their soon enough then they'd make out in public.

"Well they better get their asses over here; I'm bloody well tired of this." He said sitting up wincing as he moved his torso.

"Yeah, they'd better." Andy agreed with a small smile.

Lisa: Okay that's done with. Thanks to all those who reviewed.

Heather: YES!

Lisa: Yes please continue, tis fun to review, yes?

Heather: YES!

Lisa: ... yea...

Heather: YES!

Lisa: F – R – E – D!

Heather: F – R – E – D!

Lisa: B – U – R – G – E ...

Heather: R!

Both: FRED FRED BURGER!!!

(I apologize for this insaneness it's just me and some of my friends love Fred Fred Burger that much)


	8. Escape

Lisa: I'm just going to warn you now; I was watching The Hills Have Eyes (unrated) while I was writing this so I'm sorry if it's... no never mind it _IS _morbid and I apologize.

Steph: Awesome movie.

Lisa: Defiantly... wait why are you here?

Steph: (Shrug)

Heather: ... I've never seen it...

Lisa and Steph: (gasp)

Lisa: Oh my God! Oh we are so watching it when we go to Steph's.

Steph: I'll supply popcorn and sodas!

Lisa: I'll supply the movie!

Escape

Sirius was the first to wake up after they both fell asleep not long after Andy dressed his injuries. At first his vision was blurry but after several hard blinks and some eye rubbing it returned. Sirius tried to sit up but failed, he turned his head so he was facing the floor and spit out a mouthful of blood from a terrible split lip, he then looked down at himself, his torso was exposed showing off ugly bruises and bloodied bandages all over. He sighed and rubbed his head trying to clear a headache as he looked around, blood was everywhere. His blood. When he looked over at Andy next to him he saw his blood on her shirt, of course you couldn't see it well because her shirt was black but you could tell the sticky substance was on her.

He moved closer to her and moved her sleeve up, she had almost completely ignored her own injury and although it had closed up dried blood was covering it and her arm. He cursed slightly and moved to the rags that was once one of his most prided shirts, he ripped a strand off and wrapped it around her arm, it could still reopen when she moved again. The cut on her head looked good, her eye was very swollen and may have been swollen shut, he would only know once she opened them.

"Tables are turned, huh?" He heard and looked down to see her waking up. "I'm fine, Sirius." She said as she sat up.

"How come you didn't take care of that shoulder?" He asked concerned.

"S'not that bad, I can handle it. Besides, it stopped bleeding."

"Doesn't mean you can ignore it." He said.

"Is that Auror training talking?" She asked smirking. Just a week before James and Sirius had begun their Auror training at the ministry, and they frequently complained that they were learning survival skills first rather then combat spells.

"Yeah I guess it is." He smiled but it faded quickly as he joined her leaning against the wall. "Andy, I don't think they're gonna come in time, if we wanna get the hell out of this bloody place we have to do it on our own."

"How Sirius?" She asked. "We can't get that door open."

"There is a window."

"We don't know if it's real and besides I'm sure they wouldn't give us a window that could break that easy."

"Andy when's the full moon?"

Her eyes widened in realization and thought about it for a couple seconds. "Oh God... tonight probably."

"You're stronger that means. You can probably break if it doesn't have a charm on it." He said.

"I don't know..."

"Just try it."

She nodded and got up with some difficulty due to stiff muscles. Making her way over to the small window she felt it first testing its strength and then wrapped a rag around her hand and taking a look back to Sirius she slammed her fist into the window. She let out a sustained grunt when it hit the window did not break. But she tried again, this time she held herself steady with her other hand on the wall and tried again. Nothing. She tried again.

"Andy..." Sirius said from his seat as she continued to rapidly beat her fist against it, this time with both hands not caring that her knuckles were bleeding. "Andy stop." He said again and he got up walking over to her. "Stop it, it's not working." He grabbed her first when she continued and when he looked at the window he noticed a crack in it.

He let out a breath and laughed slightly smiling to Andy who had a smile on her face as well. He made her back away from the window so he could continue to break it; her knuckles were in bad shape.

Wincing he lifted up his leg and aimed, it shot out to the window and another crack appeared. He kicked it over and over again fiercely sometimes hitting sometimes not. He continued until his injuries prevented him from standing and kicking any further and he put his leg back down and leaned over breathing hard.

Before he knew it he heard a growl and he looked up Andy was above him eyes shinning yellow and growling through her teeth and she gave the window a powerful kick. Another crack appeared; she punched it and kicked it over and over and over again every time another mark appearing until with one final punch the glass shattered. With an exhausted sigh she took her arm out from the broken window cuts all up it and blood dripping but she didn't care in the slightest. Her eyes changed back to gray and she let out a long sigh.

Sirius walked over and took his shoe off, with the soul he cleared out all the glass on the edges and when he was done he put it back on. "Okay," he said looking through the hole and around making sure no one was there. "You go first," she nodded and he gave her a boost through the small window, she fit but her shoulders and thighs rubbed against the edges.

"Sirius can you fit?" Andy asked looking back through the hole from the other side.

"I can't..." He replied glumly. "But I bet Padfoot can."

Andy watched as Sirius changed into a large black dog right before her eyes. She momentarily wondered if he was still too big to fit but he jumped and put his front paws on the edge.

"Come on, Sirius, jump I'll pull you through." She said and the dog put his paws back down and stepped back a few feet. He gave a running start and jumped Andy grabbed him by the torso making him whine in pain from his wounds.

"Sorry." She apologized and brought him through, he just fit perfectly.

When she put him down on the ground he changed back and lay on the ground for a few seconds and Andy bent down next to him. "Hey, man, you okay?" She asked.

"Fine, gimmie a minute."

"Think your ribs cracked?" She asked.

"Might be." He replied. "C'mon, no use sitting around here waiting for those bloody wankers to find out we're missing."

"Are ya sure you can walk?"

"I'm fine, Andy, lets go." He paused and saw her arm clearly for the first time. "Aw Merlin, Andromeda... this is bad."

"Its nuthin' come on we have to get goin'." She said and the two walked off down the hall not knowing if they were walking away from the exit or too it.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Remus stared at the people before him, he knew the smells were familiar but this was insane. He heard the rest of the team come up behind him and gasp at what they saw as well. It was Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Slughorn along with several people they did not recognize.

"Pr – Professor." Remus stuttered in complete shock. "What, what are you all doing here?"

"Same thing as you are I imagine, Remus." Dumbledore said turning to face the young wizards. "As much as I would like to tell you all to go back to your homes and leave this matter to us I know you will not hear a word of what I say."

"You're here looking for Sirius and Andy too?" James said.

"Indeed we are Mr. Potter," McGonagall said. "Do you think we would just sit back and watch?"

"Come on!" Said a gruff man behind them with scars all over his face and a false eye that seemed to have a mind of its own. "We're wasting time here with all this chit chat."

"I am afraid you're right, Alastor, we must continue on." He said and began turning his back to them to continue down the path. But then turned around back to the ex-students. "Well? Are you coming? If you insist on saving your friends I think it would be best we did it together."

"Albus, do you really think it wise for a bunch of inexperienced, rash, witches and wizards joining us?" The man, Alastor Moody, said.

"I know all these children, Alastor; they will give us more help then trouble." He said looking back to them with a twinkle in his eye.

The young group nodded, still confused on why exactly Dumbledore was there looking for Sirius and Andy with a group of wizards and witches. He wasn't an Auror, why would he be there? But they did follow their professor and James jogged up to him to ask several questions.

"Professor, why are you here?" He inquired with a furrowed brow.

"I thought I established that Mr. Potter."

"Well, no, not really, Sir, why are you looking for them? How did you find out? Who are all these other people?" James asked looking around at all the unfamiliar faces.

"In time, James, you shall know." He said.

James sighed knowing he wouldn't get any more information out of him. He looked back to the rest of them and shrugged. 'Ries then tried to advance to Dumbledore and ask questions, he thought that since he was older then James he could get some more solid answers out of his former professor. But the results were no more helpful then the ones James got.

Dumbledore seemed to know exactly where he was going, every now and then Remus would sniff the air to see if he could smell them nearby but he got nothing. He was only able to confirm the trail every now and then but after a few feet it would disappear.

As they walked they approached an old building, they gazed at it. Was this were they were keeping Sirius and Andy? It was so run down how this possibly be it. Dumbledore led the group to the front where they saw two wizards stationed there in black hooded robes and masks on their faces. Before they even acknowledged the fact that someone had just whipped around the corner at them then fell to the ground stunned.

Dumbledore lowered his wand and inspected the two. "Death eaters." He said as he rose. "I thought as much, Voldemort wants them, or perhaps they think they're involved with something..."

"Voldemort?" Lily asked her yes widening in panic. "Voldemort's here?"

"I doubt it, Ms. Evans." McGonagall said. "I doubt he would come here simply for gaining one or two death eaters, this is a small operation."

"He won't gain any _death eaters_," James said. "Sirius would never go to his side and neither would Andy."

"I don't care what the hell they're here for." Heather said. "My friends are in there and I want to get them the bloody hell out!"

"Calm down, Heather, we will get them out." Dumbledore replied calmly. "Because of the fact they hid their location fairly well they wouldn't have many death eaters here. They don't think anyone will find them, or find them before they're done. Now, I believe its time we your friends back." He said. "Wands out everyone, and we prepared for anything." But before he even made a step to the door he walked to Remus. "The moon rises in less then five hours, my boy, are you sure you –"

Remus cut Dumbledore off. "I'm fine, Sir, we don't have to worry at all."

He nodded and then proceeded to walk into the building.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Sir, I believe its time to interrogate the werewolf," said a death eater walking over to a high ranking one. "The moon rises soon, when we are done with her..." he trailed off smiling.

The other one smiled as well. "Go get her."

The death eaters nodded and walked down a dark hall to the room followed by several other death eaters too collect her. When they reached the heavy door he took out his wand to open it, it would be impossible without one. One the door was opened they were showed a sight that they never expected.

Both prisoners were gone and the window was shattered.

"I thought you charmed that window!" The man roared to the other.

"I – I did," he said his voice wavering. "They must have broken the charm!"

"How could they have done that unless it was sloppily applied!" he yelled grabbing his neck. "I should kill you right now for your foolishness, but unfortunately the Dark Lord gave us few death eaters, GO FIND THEM!" He threw the man to the floor and watched him run off with the other men to go and find the prisoners.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Andy and Sirius wandered through the labyrinth like halls of their prison. Sirius was almost thinking God that it was so near the full moon, he was with Remus many times around that time and he knew how much of an asset they were. But he was also terrified about what would happen if they didn't get out in time, he knew all too well he could hardly handle Remus alone without James, he didn't expect Andy to be any different, and with his injuries it would just prove to be harder.

He could already see the transformation begin to take place, the tears she shed had washed away most of her make-up when she whipped her eyes and he could see her eyes slanted more and far darker then they were normally, not to mention the yellow that lined them. Her canines were also slightly longer then what one could consider normal, as were her fingernails. Now Andy never had real long nails like Lily but they had grown several centimeters in the past few hours and that is not supposed to happen.

The blood trail the two left behind was anything but discreet but Andy kept all her senses open, if someone was coming she'd know. Sirius on the other hand may have horrible wounds but his fist was clenched and ready for anyone who tried to get in his way.

"There's someone around the corner." She said under her breath.

"What corner...?" Sirius asked squinting his eyes into the darkness looking for the corner that Andy was talking about.

"A ways up, he can't hear us, I can hardly hear him but he's talking."

"What's he saying?"

"I dunno, but I bet ya it's about us." She said raising her eyebrow.

"Come on." Sirius said and began advancing forward down the hall in the direction of the corner.

"Sirius, where're you goin'?" Andy asked chasing him with her brow furrowed.

"To get this guy out of our way, there's only one right?"

"Yeah, now there is. There was another guy but he left, weirdo's talkin' to himself or somethin'."

Before Andy knew it a black dog was in front of her and it shot around the corner. She heard a snarl and surprised yell that was short lived, Andy bolted around the corner to find Sirius standing over a guy with a bloodied head and arm. "What'd ya do to him?"

"Nothing." Sirius almost laughed. "I came around the corner and attacked his arm... then he fell... some bad guy, eh?"

Andy smiled. "Heheh, is there anything on him?" She said when Sirius bent down to start going through his robes for anything.

"A wand," Sirius smirked, "Not anywhere near to mine or yours but it'll do."

"I think I just might like the ending to this."

"I think I do too."

Andy smiled and laughed as she swooped back around the corner gripping the wall to keep herself up. Hitting the heal of her boot against the stone floor she looked back up and the smile was gone from her face. "Shit." She whispered.

"Got that right, werewolf." Said a man with his face covered like the rest. "Now stay quiet or you will die now."

Maybe I don't like the ending to this, Andy thought. She saw his eyes go from her to something behind her and she felt a hand grab her neck roughly and pull her around. "Don't move." Said the man. "I will kill her."

She saw Sirius with the wand out pointing to the man; he was biting his bottom lip obviously in deep thought. (Normally a joke would be made at this time, most likely by Heather but that was out of the question) Andy took a large breath and gave Sirius a look not to do anything stupid, but she knew that hope was in vain.

"Lower your wand." He ordered and Sirius did not reply. "I said lower it you traitor!"

Andy rolled her eyes not believing what she was about to do and used her heal to kick the man between his legs and he gasped and loosened his grip on her. But not entirely, however this did give Sirius the perfect opportunity to fire a curse at him slashing his stomach. The man stumbled back and Andy yelled. "Shit!" She cried and gripped her side. "Sirius! Don't hit me too!" She moved her hand exposing a gash in her side, part of the curse that Sirius fired hit her as well.

"Well you're right next to him! I'm sorry that my aim with a fucked up arm isn't all that great!" He yelled back at her.

The man began to sit up on the ground raising his wand. "Dammit!" Andy yelled and gave him a kick to the head. "Stay dead, God dammit!" She yelled.

"Take his wand." Sirius said looking down at him as he muttered. "_Stupefy_." Knocking out whatever consciousness was left in the man.

Andy picked up the wand and examined it pulling a face. "This wand is one ugly son of a – "

"Come on, we better start moving. We may have wands but that does not mean we can slow down."

"Hold on, maybe we should fix some of our boo boo's." Andy said looking down at herself.

"Good idea." Sirus held up his wand and cast a simple healing charm on Andy's arm. Nothing happened, the cuts remained. "Hm..." He sad and tried another one. "Still nothing."

"Oh Sirius." She moaned.

"I'm doing it right I swear!" he protested. He tried again. Nothing.

"Let me." She then tried casting one, nothing. She tried again. Nothing. "What the hell..."

"Come on, no time for this."

"But what if we lose too much blood and pass out or something." Andy said touching her head, the cut on her head had reopened though the ordeal and was now bleeding once again. Half of her face was a dark crimson color, making her pale skin look even paler. Sirius had to admit both of them were all but drenched in blood, it was very unsettling.

"Well, we'll just have to not pass out." He said simply and walked down the hall with determination.

Andy sighed and looked down at the body on the floor one more time before following Sirius.

Lisa: Like I said... morbid.

Heather: Oh my God... The use of the word blood is over used.

Lisa: And guys REVIEW! And if you read my other story review that cuz I gots a lot of readers but none of them review and it makes me sad.

Heather: Poor Lisa.

Lisa: Yeah poor me. But thanks for the reviews I did get and I have many... interesting ideas for this and something later on so I think I'll be updating faster.


	9. Safe

Lisa: Fear not, I am not watching Hills Have Eyes this time... although I still can't guarantee it won't be blood free.

Heather: You never can.

Lisa: Amen to that. Now everybody enjoy the perhaps less gory or maybe more gory chapter. I do not know for I have yet to write it.

Safe

The marauders followed the group deeper into the building. They came across several more Death Eaters but they were nothing Dumbledore couldn't handle with a few spells. Apparently Voldemort didn't see it fit to send ay of his stronger men, only weak, young ones.

He walked down the halls and soon arrived at a door. It was thick, hard to break but it was ajar slightly. Dumbledore looked back and gave them all a look to be cautious. He pushed the door slightly, it was heavy no one could kick this open it had to of been unlocked. He stepped in and looked around first, they all heard him let out a sigh as he motioned no one was in there.

James was the first one to step in aside from Dumbledore's group. He gasped and covered his mouth; there was blood all over the floor and ragged ripped bloody clothes as well. Quiet sobs erupted from behind them as Laura covered her mouth as well and trying to stiff cries. Lily wrapped her arm around her friend to sooth her crying as the group continued to look.

Remus put his hand over his nose, 'Ries and Cas did the same except they didn't smell it as bad. With Remus's heightened senses he smelled the blood so clearly, it was like he was back home in the basement, or at the shrieking shack in his first couple years at the school.

"Look at this Albus." Said Moody from the wall, he pointed at the small window and the shattered glass and drops of blood on the floor. "Looks like they've gotten out on their own –"

Remus cut him off. "Which means that they're wandering this place alone with no wands and badly injured," he said his eyes wide.

"Calm yourself, Remus, we do not know how badly injured they are. Now it does not seem that any of this happened to long ago. They could not have gotten far." He said and walked over to the window.

"Sirius can't possibly fit through there..." Lily said with a furrowed brow she looked to Heather for an explanation.

"Yeah, _Sirius_ can't." She said in a hushed tone and a look of realization dawned upon Lily's face.

Dumbledore muttered and spell under his breath and parts of the wall silently crumbled apart and created a door. He stepped through and looked around, there was more shattered glass on the other side, much more.

Remus let out a breath, he had barley breathed while in the room, and now it was easier. "I can still smell it..." He muttered making everyone look at him. "They left a trail. I bet I could follow it."

"That's my Moony." James said and put his hand on Remus's shoulder.

Moody narrowed his eyes at the young werewolf but allowed him the take a few good sniffs in the air. Remus began walking down one hall, feeling once again very much like a bloodhound. They must not have been able to stop all the bleeding well, the drops of blood were consistent and in some spots was heavier then in others.

He could feel a horrible sick feeling in the pit of his stomach as he continued to smell the blood of his best friend and his girlfriend. If anything happened to either of them he would never forgive himself. He began to feel regret and self hatred as he continued to thin about the 'ifs'. He mentally slapped himself and physically put his hand on his forehead. This thinking would only lead to him not doing this well and he couldn't risk failing either of them now.

"Oh Merlin..." he said and began running forward.

"Remus!" James said and chased him, the adults not far behind.

They ran down the hallway and stopped at a corner. Remus looked down to find a body on the floor, a bruise on his face and a cut on his side. They stood over the body as the adults caught up to them and they did not waste time staring in shock at the body. Dumbledore bent down and waved his wand over him. "He's alive it seems, but just barley."

"Missing a wand too." McGonagall said as she searched him real quick and looked around the floor.

"Another one over here," Moody said next to another body on the floor in the same condition as the first. "A missing wand as well."

"I think we can predict who did this, it seems these men were death eaters." Said another one of the adults who was with them. "So they must still be capable."

"It seems that way, and now they have wands, hopefully no more trouble will befall them before they are found."

There was an eerie silence around them as the adults surveyed the area. There was too much blood for Remus to tell what was what in this area. After another couple minutes Dumbledore found out exactly the way they went, in that hallway their were several forks.

They started forward again to find them and a strangled cry erupted from behind everyone. They all whipped around wands ready only to find Remus clutching his stomach in agony.

"Moony!" James said and ran to his friend. "Rem, you okay!"

"The full moon is taking its toll on him." Moody growled. "It rises in a few hours."

"I'm fine." Remus said with a deep scratchy voice in his throat. "Let's just go." He straightened up despite the pain and began walking forward, the large veins in his neck jutting out from his tense body.

They all knew Remus should not be here and could possibly only do more damage then good in his condition but with the transformation only a couple hours away and the situation he was in no one could persuade him to leave. They simply followed him as he tried to pick up the sent of their blood once again.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Sirius..." Andy moaned as she continued to try and find a way out with her friend. "The moon... its rising soon..." She said looking up at him from her leaned over position.

"You look like death." He sad in a concerned voice and walked over biting his bottom lip.

"Jee, ya think?" She said sarcastically. "Sirius, you just go ahead, get outta here if the transformation starts you need to be as far away as possible."

"Oh bloody hell no." He said and pulled her so she was standing straight up and almost eye to eye with him. "You think I'm leaving you here at the hands of those insane gits you have another thing coming."

"I don't know how much longer I can last..."

"Yes, you do. Where the Andy that would kick this Andy's ass if she saw it? Where's the Andy that never gives up? The bold, obnoxious, loud mouth, bitch that I have known since I was twelve?"

She took a few deep breaths. "I'm serious... I'm weak, with the transformation comin' usually I get stronger but with this much blood loss I'm just gettin' weaker."

Sirius scoffed and thought for a moment. He smirked and then took his hands from where they rested on her arms to her face and puller her in. He planted a kiss right on her mouth. Andy's eyes went wide and she began making muffled sounds.

He pulled away after a few seconds to see a horrified look on her face. "What the hell, Sirius!" She yelled and pushed him minding his injuries. "What's wrong with you!? God I just kissed my brother! Nasty, man!"

"Oh you enjoyed it," He huffed but then his voice turned more serious. "But you're alive right now and mad at me right?" She nodded ferociously. "Then come on."

He grabbed her wrist and they walked at a fast pace through the various halls and corridors some more.

"This place is a damned maze." She said looking at all the walls around her. "They're all the same."

"I know..." Sirius said.

"Look who it is." Said a cold voice from behind him.

"Caught that sent too late." Andy muttered and they turned around to face another hooded man. They could not see his face but the wand he held out to them was obvious.

"Don't even try to use yours, you've probably already figured it out that you can't use any spells with them. You know why? Because you don't have the dark mark. Only those who serve the Dark Lord can use the wands specially designed and enchanted to serve him alone. Now, I'm going to kill you, the Dark Lord said just to interrogate, but I can see that both of you are simply fools and he did say to kill if we felt we could no longer gather information."

Just then the man fell and standing behind him was James holding his wand out with a hard look on his face. "Just shut the hell up." He said to the man on the floor. Looking up he saw his two missing friends he ran over quickly followed by Remus, Peter, the girls and the adults. James ran over and hugged Sirius tightly, despite the fact the hug must have caused him pain Sirius hugged him back and let out a sigh.

Remus ran over to Andy first and the two hugged as well but they added a few small kisses. The rest of the group joined them as Sirius and Andy's adrenaline rushes depilated to nothing and they fell to the floor.

Remus took in the sight of his girlfriend and friend. They were both covered in blood and now looking down at his clothes and hands he too now had blood on him. Bruises and cuts were all over the both of them; he couldn't imagine what they must have gone through. He let a couple tears escape his eye as he hugged her once again and they turned to Sirius who was now only a foot away. All the school friends seemed to all be hugging and crying with one another.

They felt like they could continue this hugging and crying and holding one another for ever until Dumbledore walked up to them and bent down to them. "I hate to cut your reunion short, but you all must get away from here, now."

They looked up at him and nodded. "Now," he continued. "With the upcoming moon I would never apparate any of you, and as much as I would want you to leave here on your own I fear a portkey is the only way."

"Right..." Lily said, "Where is it?"

"Right here." He said and took out a small book from his robes. "All of you hold it and you'll be taken away."

"Where will we be - ?" Heather asked but he had already activated it, she felt a tug and they were all transported way from the cold, dark hell that Andy and Sirius survived.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Going..." Peter finished for her as they appeared in a very familiar place.

"We're at Hogwarts infirmary." Remus said looking around. "Come on, help me get them in the beds. Madam Pomfery!" he yelled out and his vice echoed through the sterile room. He couldn't have enough thanks that there was no patients in their at the time.

"What?" Came a voice from her office. "Who is out here – oh my gosh! Remus! James! Lily! Oh my! Sirius, 'Dromeda! What on earth happened?!" She cried as she rushed over to the students who visited her ward most.

"They were kidnapped." James said. "Dumbledore gave us a portkey when we found then and it lead us here."

"Oh dear..." She said as she hovered over the injured teenagers. "Remus, be a dear and get me some of the potions from the cabinet." She said and Remus hurried over to the large cabinet he knew all too well from his years at the school and came back with bottles of potions.

"Thank you." She murmured and began forcing potions down the throats of the still conscious people.

"That's nasty." Sirius said in a low quiet voice very unlike his own as a foul smelling potion was poured in his mouth.

"I don't care drink it." She said and walked over to Andy to do the same.

The next day the two were in stable condition; Madam Pomfery was able to heal most of their injuries. But bruises still lingered and Sirius wouldn't be able to walk for a few days and Andy's one arm would be in a sling but that was the extent of their injuries as of now.

They all stayed by their friends side while they slept. Andy's mother was there as well with her sister and brother, they wouldn't leave until she woke up. Sirius had no blood family around him but the marauders were there by his side, along with the marauderetts of course.

Just then, as they waited in silence, the doors to the infirmary burst open and girl clad in Hufflepuff house robes burst in. But she was no ordinary first year; the electric green hair said it all.

The group turned to see the small girl run in and stop by the bed sides. "Nymph!" Laura cried. "What are you doing here?"

"I _go_ here," she said and rolled her eyes. "I heard that there were some people in the infirmary. Rumor around the school one of them was a Black and he was really cute." She said pulling a face. "And that they graduated last year, I got that one from a couple of sixth years." She said as a side note.

"Well you heard right... well mostly except for that cute thing..." Heather said pulling a face much like Nymphadora's.

"Wh – what happened?" She said as she looked at her cousin and Andy with a look of sympathy.

They exchanged looks with one another trying to decide on if they should tell her. "Oh come on! I won't tell! You know that, he's my cousin and she's... Well no relation but she's my cousin's unofficial brother's girlfriend!"

"Okay, promise not to tell but they were kidnapped by some death eaters in hoping to get information about something, we don't know what." James said with an apologetic look. "That's about all we know."

"Death eaters...?" Nymph said with a thoughtful face. "Aren't they Voldemort's supporters? That's what they're called right?" They nodded. "Bloody hell..."

"Language." Andy's mother scolded, being the only adult in the room aside form 'Ries and Cas but they didn't count much. "I know yer not my child or I have any authority over ya but I still don't like that language."

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Volk," She apologized, sighing Nymph walked over to an empty seat next to the bed Sirius was in.

"Shouldn't you be in a class now?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, but I talked to my professor and he said I could leave for his class and I'd have to talk to my other professors about the rest of the day."

"You know its amazing how fast rumors spread in this school; you must have heard them during class?" Lily said looking to Nymph.

"I was."

"Oh don't look so surprised Lils," Heather said. "We haven't been out of school that long. You know just as well as I how fast rumors spread in this place." She smirked.

"That's true..." She sighed and sat back in the chair. They all then proceeded to wait in silence until their friends woke up.

Lisa: Yay they be safe now!

Heather: tawoot!

Lisa: Yeah... now it's time to move on to other more funny and less depressing things.


	10. Order of the What?

Lisa: Here's the next installment of my wonderful story.

Steph: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! AAAAHHHHHHHHH!

Heather: Yo, happy b-day.

Lisa: ... whoa... little insanity there but yes today the sixth of May (or it is when I started writing this) is my seventeenth birthday hoorah for me!

Heather and Steph: YAY!

Order of the What...?

Sirius was now fully awake in bed talking with the group in front of him. The only ones that were there was the teenagers and Nymph. Andy's mother and her siblings left a few hours before, the twins had to get back to their jobs, which they couldn't get to much time off from, and Andy's mother was staying at a nearby hotel. She was told to go back there and rest, they would tell her when Andy was awake and talking. In fact the only reason she was still asleep was because of the full moon the previous night, it didn't help her condition. Luckily the entire time she was transformed she was unconscious from her injuries and wasn't able to do any damage to herself.

Remus had come back as soon as he possibly could from his stay at the shrieking shack. It was the first time he had stayed their without his friends for years, James and Peter wanted to go with him but he said he would be fine without them and that they should stay with Sirius. And even if they went there was no guarantee that James could be able to control him without the help of Sirius.

He sat up in the bed wincing at his ribs. "Jeez, mate, just lay down. Why can't you ever stay still for more then five minutes?" James asked pushing his friend down by the shoulders.

"'Cause I'm a stubborn prick?" Sirius asked with a smirk on his face.

"That is exactly the reason." Remus said changing one of the bandages on his arm.

"Here, lemmie help." Nymph said taking the bandage from Remus and wrapping it around his upper arm. "Did Madam Pomfery look at all of these?" She asked sounding a lot like Laura or Lily.

"Of course she did." Remus said defensively. "She wouldn't let me pass until she did."

"I sorry I couldn't be there, mate, s'all my fault you had to be alone tonight." Sirius said looking down at the bed.

"No it's not, its that bloody bastard Voldemort's fault any of this happened." Remus said. "I'm just glad you came out alive," he glanced at Andy's sleeping form. "Both of you."

"We all are, don't know what we would have done if we lost the beaters of the group." James said smiling referring to their old Quidditch days. "You two are the best team this school has ever had; trust me I read up on it."

"The only thing you've ever read up on." Heather said.

"But he is right." Nymph said. "The team this year is nothing compared to what I've seen of you guys and what I've heard."

"When did you see us play?" Sirius asked as Nymph took a place o the bed next to him. "Last year for the last game against Ravenclaw, you won as I recall."

"One hell of a game..." Andy moaned as she woke up in her bed.

"Andy," Remus said and moved over to his girlfriend's bed. "How are you feeling, love?"

"Like I was hit by a car multiple times." She said rubbing her temples with her hand. "And from what my memory serves that's not too far from the truth."

"Oh yeah, if you change that car into a wand, glass, fist and stuff then yes that is not far from the truth." Sirius said with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh shut up." She said. "So ma was here?" She asked.

"How'd you know?" Lily asked.

"Heh, please I know my mama, she wouldn't not be here. Same goes for 'Ries and Cas, how long ago did they leave?"

"Just a couple hours," Remus said. "They had to get back to work."

"Sounds like them," She smiled and sat up in the bed a little more.

"Don't strain yourself too much, Andy, you may not be able to hold up as well as a man can." Sirius said with a playful smirk on his face.

Andromeda raised her eyebrow and looked at him with a hostile look. "Them there's fightin' words, Sirius. Ya wanna take this outside?" She asked giving her voice a more Texas drawl then she usually had.

"You bet your knickers I would." Sirius said enhancing his accent and making it exaggerated.

"Stop it you too." Laura said slapping them both lightly on the arms.

"Ah, 'Dromeda, Sirius I had hoped you'd be awake." They all looked up to see their old headmaster walking into the infirmary. "I was wondering I may have a word with you, Nymphadora, I ask if you may leave us for a few moments?" He asked the eleven year old.

"Oh yeah, make the kid leave, 'cause I'm not mature enough to hear whatever you _adults_ have to talk about. I'm just a kid after all, what good input could a kid have?" She rambled on as she walked out of the room.

"You have quite an odd cousin there, Sirius." Dumbledore said.

"Tell me about it." Sirius said.

"I came to ask you a question, and it is not the question that I'm sure you've been asked. I was going to ask if you have possibly wondered how me and the rest of us knew how to find you."

"Actually, yeah, that question has come up in my head." Peter said looking to the others.

"Yeah, me too." James said and the rest of them nodded.

"Well, I was contemplating asking you all this at one point but from what you've all just experienced you have proven yourselves before I thought you were ready. But now I see that you are more then I had expected, despite the fact I was your headmaster for seven years." He smiled. "You all are incredible young men and women, I believe that you would be an amazing addition to the Order."

"The order...?" Sirius asked and his memory flashed back to the time he was being beaten in the cell. "The man... he said something about knowing where the order was... If I knew it..."

"Yes, I thought as much. You see I am the leader of the Order of the Phoenix, a secret group of witches and wizards who are bold enough to rise up against Voldemort and his armies. I fear we are entering a war, and we need all the help we can get."

"Are you askin' us to join a very small group of witches and wizards to face off against the biggest threat the wizarding world has ever known and quite possibly we will die or injured horribly from this ordeal? An' to give up on parts of our lives to join this little secret society of yours and not be able to tell our friends or families all because you think we're enough of hard asses to be able to handle it?"

"... Yes, 'Dromeda I believe that is it in a nutshell." He replied nodding

"Well shoot, I'll do it. If there's a chance for revenge against this dick head I'll take it." She said with a goofy grin on.

"I'm in." Sirius said. "Those bastards are going to pay for what they did to me and Andy, and it will be by my hand."

"Me too." James said. "You hurt my family and you hurt me."

"And me, these guys are the friends I never thought I'd have, and Andy's the girlfriend I never imagined I'd be good enough for or be able to have. If there's something out there that can hurt them I'm going to help." Remus said.

"I will," Laura said quietly. "He killed my parents, I don't want anyone else to have to go through what I did."

"Me... six." Heather said counting the people who already said yes. "This guy represents everything I'm against. He needs to be taken down."

"I – I will." Peter stuttered. "He's evil, wrong and cruel... a man like that shouldn't be in existence."

"I'm not being left out of this." Lily said lastly. "He hurt my sister, and my brother." She smiled to Sirius and he smiled back. Even though she would never admit it he was like a brother to her now... a very annoying, pain in the ass brother. "I may be the one in this group most against physical violence, but need I remind you I am a red head with a temper. No one messes with my family and gets away with it."

Dumbledore smiled. "I thought you would agree; now you all realize what you're volunteering to do right? This will not be a walk in the park, there will be dangers you must face and challenges lie ahead of you all."

"Haven't you learned anything from us over the years?" James asked. "The Marauders love a challenge."

"This is serious, James, we are on the verge of a war, you must be prepared."

"So what's our other option?" Andy asked.

"Sit on the sidelines and watch the fight? Knowing we can't do nothing?" Heather finished.

"Not bloody likely." They finished together in unison.

"I agree if there's something to be done I wanna be a part of it." Remus said.

"I understand, I just want to make sure you know exactly what you're getting yourselves into, and it seems like you either do, or you don't care." Dumbledore said.

"Little bit of both probably." Heather said.

He smiled and nodded. "I thought so, you are all young and spirited, and we need that in the Order."

"Yeah, cause from what I saw of it, which in your defense wasn't much; you guys are mostly stuffy old people who probably play golf... no offense, Sir." Sirius said giving him a smile.

"None taken, now there are other members, some as young as yourselves. A few of your old classmates even."

"Bet it's not Snivellus." James muttered.

"Don't jump to conclusions, James." Lily said. "For all you know he is fighting for good."

"I fear you are incorrect, Lily, we don't know exactly where Severus is at the moment, he is not in the Order but we do not know that he is fighting for Voldemort either. We don't know, just like we don't know what your classmate Timothy is doing now, or perhaps Stephanie? It is not right to assume."

"You're right, I'm sorry, Sir." James apologized.

"No need to apologize, I understand your feud with him." He waved his hand dismissing the topic. "Now there are other things I wish to speak with you about, James, Sirius I understand both of you are going through auror training at the moment."

"Yes, Sir." They chorused.

"I must ask that you do not say a word to anyone in the ministry of this."

"Of course." Sirius said and James nodded.

"That goes for you as well, Laura, you are a secretary as I understand it."

"I am, and I fully understand what you are saying."

"That not only goes for them, no one must breath a word about this unless you are absolutely sure no one can overhear you. This is secret and it must remain secret if we want the advantage against Voldemort."

They all nodded to him and he smiled. "Now I must be off, I have some other urgent things I must attend too. I or someone else form the Order will be by to speak with you, you'll know that they're a member, trust me." He said and gave him that familiar twinkle in his eye as he left the room.

After a few minutes of dead silence Sirius spoke up. "What just happened?"

"I think we were just drafted into war." Andy said.

Lisa: Yeah I know its kinda short but this is a quick update yes?

Heather: Very quick and finished quick too, which probably explains its shortness.

Lisa: Doesn't explain your own shortness though.

Heather: Hey my height is not on trial here.

Lisa: Maybe not now, anyway thanks to everyone who reviewed and I hope you continue to do so in the future.


	11. Becasue We Said So

Lisa: I'm baaaaaaaaaack.

Heather: Oh teh noes!

Lisa: That's right!

Because We Said So

They had been in the order of the Phoenix for a full week now, they were fitting in fairly well. They saw a few old friends from Hogwarts like Benjy Fenwick. He was a couple years older then them and they never talked too much but he was always amused by their various pranks. He was a very smart man, a Ravenclaw but he also held many Gryffindor characteristics. Another was Marlene McKinnen, she was a year older then them, thought their pranks were brutal and horrible, yet she laughed anyway. She was a Gryffindor and was a dorm neighbor to the girls.

The man, "Mad-Eye" Moody, was probably the least kind to them, everyone said being harsh like that was just his way of being nice but they doubted it. He was very suspicious of Remus, Andy and Sirius, the couple because of what they were, and Sirius because of his family roots. Once again everyone said that he would get over it and he's suspicious of everybody, but in their cases he can say something of why instead of being suspicious for no reason.

Andy and Sirius were recovering nicely, Madam Pomfery finally allowed them home the previous day, they thought they could have gone home days ago though. But, she required that Sirius wouldn't be living alone, he moved in with James and Lily since Remus already had his hands full with Andy and Peter was always at work he needed someone always there. And while James was in auror training (Sirius got a week of leave) Lily was home to care for Sirius much to her demise.

Remus wasn't having any more fun with Andy, she could be a real pain when she wanted to. At the moment she was on the couch reading a book, for now, that usually didn't last unless she was at a good part and by the looks of things she wasn't.

"Reeeeeemuuuuuuussssssss." She drawled out, she could almost hear Remus moan from the other room.

"What is it, love?" He called.

"Can I have a cookie?"

"We don't have any."

"Why?"

"Because... we don't." He said hesitantly not really having an answer.

"Can you make me a cookie?"

Confused, he walked into the living room and leaned over the back of the couch his elbows resting on it to look at her. "You want me," he started slowly. "To make you... one single cookie?"

"Yes." She confirmed.

"Not a whole batch?"

"No."

"One cookie?"

"One cookie."

"You're insane, what makes you think I would do that?"

"Because I said so and you love me." She answered smiling up at him.

"I never said such a thing." He answered and walked away up to the kitchen. "I can go make a stop and James and Lily's and see if they have any cookies for the Queen but that's as much as I can do." He said and started walking toward the door.

"Cooooookiiiiiiiiie!" Andy moaned as Remus closed the door on her.

Remus looked up and shook his head and said in a strained voice. "Why?" He then proceeded to make his way over to his neighbors, only half way their to find James walking out of his apartment.

"Ah, Remus, mate, there you are. You have any cookies?" James asked.

"No, that's why I'm going over to your place... The Queen wants a cookie."

"Ah well the King wants one as well... just one... not a whole batch... just one." James said. "he is driving us all insane and we can't do a thing because he's still _healing_."

"Same over there, hey, you think they plan this?"

"What do you think?" James asked as they began making their way over to Heather and Laura's flat to see if they had any cookies. Once they reached the door they knocked and Laura answered. "Hey guys," she said cheerfully. "What's up?"

"Do you have any cookies?" James asked up front.

"Uh... yeah... I think." She said and let them in. "Why?"

"They want cookies." Remus answered.

"They are milking this thing too much." Heather said walking in the room carrying an exotic looking plant that could even be bordering on animal. She was holding it at an arms length with her head pulled back away from it. "I mean come on, seriously it's been a week, and yeah sympathy going around and all but there's only so long they can get it."

"Heather what is that?" Remus asked pointing to the plant in her hands.

"Reeeeaaaalllllly long name I can't pronounce so I call it Bob." She said. "The peoples at work gave it to me to watch over for a few days, since I'm the new guy they said I get to get it." She said placing it on the table.

"Is it a carnivore?" He asked walking over to it and examining it.

"Yes. And it craves human blood." She smiled and walked away.

"Then I'm safe." He muttered standing up straight.

"Shut it you great prick now, Laura, about those cookies..." James said.

"Right," She said and walked over to the cookie jar above the refrigerator. "Hey, could someone reach these for me?" She asked realizing she couldn't reach the cookie jar even if she jumped.

"Don't look at me." Heather mumbled.

"I will." Remus said and walked over to the refrigerator reaching up he grabbed the cookie jar and brought it down but in the process lost his grip and it fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

"Remus... you die now." James said and lunged at his friend knocking him to the ground.

James pinned Remus to the ground and used his knees to prevent Remus from moving his legs. Remus squirmed in James's grasp; James was defiantly stronger and bigger then Remus. But James may have been bigger and stronger but Remus could still be very scary. He closed his eyes and stopped struggling under James's weight and sat still for a moment, James knew what was going to happen next, they gotten in plenty of fights like this to make him know what was coming so he jumped off him.

Remus sat up opened his eyes and with horrid yellow eyes he opened his mouth and gave a loud growl but when he blinked again his eyes were back to their trademark blue and it was over. Since the full moon was past and the next one wasn't for another three weeks his werewolf energy was long gone and that was all he could do.

"Mate, that was pitiful." James said and Remus shrugged before James attacked him again. "How could you break the bloody jar and ruin the cookies!?" He cried.

"It slipped! S'not my fault people don't care to wash it!" Remus yelled back.

Laura turned to heather with her hands on her hips. "Heather, you were supposed to clean that the other day with the rest of the dishes before we put the new cookies in it. Did you not clean it?"

"I did... I washed it out with more cookies." She supported a lame grin.

"That is not washing it out!" Laura said. "Did you wash anything you were suppose too?"

"I did the dusting." She pointed to the tables.

"Did you use the pledge or just dry dust it?"

"... Um... is there a difference?" Heather asked and Laura huffed in frustration.

"Oh Merlin, Heather! That means the dust is still in this flat! That you just blew it around in the air for us to breathe into our lungs and get them filthy! Did you wash the counters too or just look at them and cleanse them with your mind?"

"Didn't ya hear? My mind is the cleanest spot in all of London! No! In all the world!" She shot back.

"Not in this lifetime! It's dirtier then a sewer!" Laura screamed.

"Now where am I supposed to get cookies from?"

"Ever try the store, genius!"

"It's the _floor_ we _walk _on it! It's gonna get dirty!"

"It wouldn't be if you cleaned it every now and then!"

The entire time this shouting match and fight went on the door to the apartment opened and two people stood their watching very amused, Andy and Sirius. Both looking on with cocked heads and raised eyebrows.

"I imagined this would be amusing but not to this extent." Andy said smirking.

"I know, it was one bloody cookie." Sirius said laughing.

"And a little bit of baking grease." She giggled.

"Who knew?"

"I think you kinda did." Andy said looking over to Sirius.

"You're the one who convinced Heather not to clean it was all you my almighty Queen." Sirius said bowing down to Andy.

"Oh no dear King it was all you, you're idea your genius." Andy said and mocked bowed back to Sirius.

"Yes, my genius." Sirius said looking up. "I need a purple robe."

"Don't get cocky _King_." She said and slapped him on the arm.

Sirius grinned. "I could respond with something so dirty right now."

"You sick fu –"

"Oi! Andy, language!" Sirius said and they looked back to the people in the room who haven't even acknowledged their presence. "Hm... this is losing it touch isn't it?" He asked.

"Yeah... kinda..." Andy said and they watched them all fight for several more moments. "What if they saw us? What'd'ya think would happen?"

"Nothing, after what happened we're still safe for a little longer."

"I hope." Andy said.

"Why?"

"They just spotted us." Andy said still looking straight ahead. Sirius looked up and saw that all four of them were glaring at both of them.

"Oh fu –"

"Language, mate." Remus said and the four began walking toward them.

"We're still not fully healed." Sirius said as they began backing up into the hallway.

"Don't give us that crap." Heather said. "You're up and walking around."

"Yeah, and I have a limp." Sirius said.

"After them." James said and they bolted after the two.

Sirius and Andy split up, Andy taking the path to James and Lily's place and Sirius over to Peter's. Andy ran through the door and locked it when she reached the other side.

"Andy!" Lily exclaimed turned around sharply from her duties at the kitchen counter. "What on earth are you doing!?"

"Hiding, James doesn't have his key right?"

"Um, no." She answered. "What happened?"

"Okay, listen." Andy said walking over to Lily. "Do. Not. Let. James. In. Or anyone for that matter as long as I'm here."

"Why?" She stopped her thought immediately and stood there with her arms folded across her chest. "What did you and Sirius do to them? Does it have anything to do with that forsaken cookie?"

Andy forced a laugh. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Lils."

Lily rolled her eyes. "You know I don't care anymore I just don't care." She said and turned back to the kitchen to finish up what she was doing.

Sirius ran down the opposite side of the hallway and to a door he knew well. Testing the knob he found that it thankfully was not locked and he threw his body through the open door and locked it behind him. He kept his back to the door for a few moments until he heard banging on it and then stepped away and walked into the flat.

"Pete? You there, mate?" He waited a second. "Or are you at that bloody job of yours?"

"No, I'm home." A voice said from the other room and peter came walking in the room holding his wand. "I was just fixing something, not successfully mind you, but what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be resting?"

"Okay, whoever knocks on the door do not open it no matter what they say." Sirius said walking over to Peter.

"What? Why?" Peter asked not completely confused.

"No reason."

Peter thought about it for a second. "Did you pull something on everybody and now need a safe house or hide until they either cool down or you think of another one of your little schemes."

"Uh... yeah pretty much." Sirius nodded.

He shrugged. "Okay then, while you're here maybe you could help me fix this bloody table."

"'Course, mate." Sirius said and hobbled into the bedroom to fix the table. After muttering a spell he saw a window and once again a plan began hatching in this twisted head.

"That window open all the way?"

"Of course it does." Peter said and followed Sirius over to it. "Why?"

Sirius opened it and stuck his head out. Exactly three windows over was James and Lily's apartment. "Hey, Wormtail, listen through the front door are they still out there?"

"Hold on." He said and left the room for a few seconds. "Yup." He said waking back in."

"Perfect," he muttered and then yelled, "hey! ANDY!"

A small scream was heard and then a head stuck out the window he was directing too. It was Andy; she pushed her glasses up and shifted her position getting a more comfortable position on the counter top she was sitting on. "What's up Sirius!?" She yelled back.

"Wanna bolt it? We both got a window." He said and then Andy looked down at the drop, they weren't on the first floor after all.

"You're insane." She said.

"Andy, we can apparate."

"Not here and you know that, muggles remember?" Since they were the first people to move in the building they didn't know that the landlord was going to make it a muggle/wizard building. First two floors were muggle, third and fourth wizard and they were the third.

"Oh yeah... hey listen to this, when I was a kid I was always sneaking out away from my father. We had a trellis along the side of my grandparent's house when I wanted to get away, it was a muggle community so I couldn't fly and I always climbed down that at night to get away."

"Well now, Sirius, that's just... dandy!" She said leaning her elbows on the windowsill. "It's just there is no trellis here."

"Not now." He grinned. His head ducked back in the flat for a second before he came back out with Peter's wand. "Just a little charm, I see no muggles do you? Besides we're adults now, the ministry won't murder us for making one little vine."

"Sometimes I forget just how smart your stupidity really is." She answered and watched Sirius cast the spell, and in an instant vines began to creep down the wall and to the ground.

"Alright, let's do this." She said and climbed out the window.

Sirius climbed out as well and they slowly crawled down the vines Not losing their footing because since they were magic made they were incredibly strong and thick. They focused all their energy on climbing down the vines they failed to notice the front door to the building open and six people stand at the bottom and watch them.

Sirius got down first helping Andy down and when they were done they were laughing and smiling to one another thinking that their brilliant thinking worked but when they turned their smiles faded instantly.

"Hello," Heather said with her arms folded.

"Going somewhere?" James asked and the two exchanged glances looking doubtful and nervous.

"When the going gets tough – "Andy started.

" – The tough go clubbing." Sirius finished both of them looking hopeful.

They all exchanged looked and then nodded. "Why not." Remus said and using their wands they magically locked their doors and then proceeded to go to the club down the road, the very same spot where all their troubles began.

Lisa: That's a nice filler, I was worried it was be too shit but then the situation just kinda came out.

Heather: Yay!

Lisa: Yay indeed and I must give the show NCIS credit for the line "When the going gets tough the tough get clubbing". Hehe Tony DiNozzo said that. I quotes him because h is not only funny but very hot to. C'mon do I have any NCIS fans reading this?

Heather: Uhhh

Lisa: Yeah, I'll stop now thank you for reviewing and reading and I'll see ya next time.


	12. Sorrows and Suprises

Lisa: Oh I am sorry but I really got into working on something else and though I always had these little ideas nagging my mind for this fic I never really just wrote it out.

Heather: ... We understand.

Lisa: I hope so here's a nice good chapter for everyone to make up for it.

Sorrows and Surprises

They went to the club for several hours and were back by twelve that night. They didn't stay out late, in fact they thought they never would again after what had happened. Andy and Sirius didn't drink nearly as much, but Remus did scold them on the rum they drank regardless. Didn't mean they had any less fun, Andy even got Remus out on the dance floor for a little while and Sirius did manage to get a few phone numbers of women he would probably never call and Peter got out and less lose instead of worrying about work for once. James and Lily slow danced for an hour during a slow song and even into a fast song, Laura said they made an adorable couple.

But now they were at home, everyone in their own rooms and preparing for bed. Sirius was in his kitchen putting a few things away, although he didn't seem like the type he kept his home decently clean. He was placing plates in his cabinet when the front door behind him opened and someone walked in surprising Sirius.

"Ah!" Sirius cried and turned around sharply dropping the plate to the floor smashing it to pieces.

"Hey, hey, Padfoot, chill mate it's just me." James said walking into the room. "Hey, you okay? You seem kind of jumpy, and that broken plate right there is just the proof I needed."

"I – I'm fine." Sirius said grabbing his wand and repairing the broken plate and putting it in the cabinet along with the rest and closing it.

"You don't seem fine, all night you've been... different."

"Different? How have I been different, I'm normal? I got plenty of numbers did I not? Perfectly normal for Sirius Black is it not?"

"I don't know, but you've been weird." He said.

Sirius gave a forced laugh. "How have I been weird? I've been fine perfectly normal nothing wrong okay? Jesus James can't you just leave me alone for a minute your so intrusive!" Sirius yelled walking over into the living room of the flat.

"You're saying normal a lot." James observed.

"Who cares, it's a word, I don't keep count of how many times you say mate or bloke."

"Well first off I don't think I've ever said bloke and secondly I was just mentioning it, didn't mean anything by it."

"Okay then, just as long as we have that clear. I'm not being weird."

"Okay..." James trailed off, obviously something was wrong. "So you're not being weird."

"No, perfectly normal." Sirius said pouting.

"Right." James said and sat down next to him in silence for a few minutes until James spoke again. "How's your leg?"

"What?"

"Your leg how is it?" He repeated.

"Fine..." Sirius said and folded his arms. "James... why are you here?"

"To see how you are, like I said you were acting kind of weird." He said and Sirius rolled his eyes at the word 'weird'. "And, well, to be honest, mate I'm worried about you."

"Why? I'm fine."

"Because of what happened, I don't know if you've noticed but you've been really jumpy, Sirius. You dropped the plate when I walked in, you normally don't do that. If anything you'd attack me with the plate. What's going on?"

"Like you said, Prongs, a little jumpy is all. Just a little on edge, it'll go away." Sirius said as he played with the fraying edge of a throw pillow on the couch.

"Seems like a little more then that, when I walked in you looked utterly terrified. I've never seen you like that before." James said in a sad voice looking Sirius in the eye. "It kinda scared me."

"I'm fine James..."

"You keep saying that but I don't know if I believe you anymore, and I know no one else does. They're worried, we asked Andy, she said what you looked like when they threw you back to her. She was terrified you were going to die you know. She said they hit you pretty hard, we're worried, we're worried you're not exactly over it yet."

"Well I don't know if I _will _get over it, James." Sirius sighed looking up from the throw pillow. "Andy was scared? You have no idea how scared I was. I thought I was going to die, it really hurt James... I couldn't move at all, everything hurt. I remember seeing Andy cry." He smirked. "I saw her make-up was all over her face, just running down her cheeks. I've never seen her like that before. When, when I saw it I really thought it was that last thing I would ever see. I mean if she was crying that much and how I felt then I could only imagine what I looked like and I was so scared that that was my last sight. That would be horrible, for my last sight to see one of my best mate's girl broken down in tears. And ya know, Prongs, I really didn't want that to be it..." Sirius trailed off.

"I can't think of a reason why it would be." James said rubbing the back on his friend. "I wish I was there sooner."

"Yeah, so do I."

"But the important thing is, you got out, you were able to get out." James said.

Sirius gave a humorless laugh. "No, I don't think so, Andy got us out. The upcoming full moon, that got us out. I didn't do dick." he said in a low voice.

"Sirius, you know that's not true. Andy couldn't have gotten out without you, you saved her. She would have died without you. Is that doing dick?"

Sirius slowly shook his head.

"There, see? You did help; you helped more then you know."

"Yeah." He muttered. "Doing dick... that can be interpreted differently." Sirius said as he looked at James who was rolling his eyes with a smile.

"Don't change the subject and get your bloody head outta the gutter!" He became serious once again and put his hand on Sirius's shoulder in a comforting way. "Just remember, we're all there for you, Remus, Peter, Heather, Lily, Andy, Laura... all of us... don't ever think you can't come to us for any reason. Especially me, you're my best mate."

"You're mine too, James." He answered. "It's just hard to talk about, when I do it's like I'm back in that cell and their beating the shit outta me again."

"But your not, remember they're either dead or in Azkaban for life, and now you can get revenge! We're in the Order now, remember? Fighting the good fight, against Voldemort and his blasted armies!" James cried pulling his legs up onto the couch in his excitement.

Sirius smiled. "I know I am, and believe me, their will be hell to pay when I met one of those guys on the battle field."

"Wouldn't think anything else of ya, Pads." James said and stood up from his seat on the couch. "C'mon, I'll help ya with the rest of your dishes over there."

"Oh now won't that be just so much fun." Sirius replied sarcastically.

"Ya know sarcasm is a sign on pent up anger?"

"I don't care, Jamie so shut up."

"See?"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

It was morning and a weekend, or it was late morning, around ten. But everyone was up and over James and Lily's apartment for breakfast. Not that any of them were really invited, but the word spread that Lily was making bacon, eggs, ham, pancakes and all the good stuff so they all just merged over there. She was a little overwhelmed when they all showed up, half of them without the decency to even change out of their pajamas. For example, Heather and Andy both had flannel pj bottoms on, Heather with an over sized t-shirt and Andy with a tank top (Andy managed to find the basic morning make up but not the proper clothes) and Remus and Sirius didn't even put pants on, they just wore boxers and shirts. Everyone else had decent clothes on.

"Here you are you lowly scavengers." Lily said cheerfully placing the plate of pancakes on the table for her so called friends.

"You're so sweet Lily." Remus said as they all dug into the large pile of pancakes.

"I know I am, I know." She said taking her place next to James at the table and pouring herself some juice from the pitcher. "Enjoy everyone; it's the last time you're going to get food from me."

"I seriously doubt that." Andy said with a smile on. "I mean c'mon your pancakes kick ass!"

"However crude that may be... I do believe it's true." She said happily.

"Laura pass the blueberry ones." Heather said reaching for the plate of blueberry pancakes.

Laura obliged and Andy laughed. "Blueberries, you suck, chocolate chip, my friend. That's the way to go."

"Amen to that." Sirius said and thre two raised their glasses and clinked them together in a toast. "Now speaking of the chocolate chip, my good man, Peter..." He said looking hungrily at the pile of pancakes across from him.

"Of course, Mr. Padfoot." Peter said lifting the plate and passing it too him.

"Thank you, Mr. Wormtail."

"Remus are you okay?" Andy asked moving her hand up to feel his brow. "You look a little pale."

"I'm fine, love." He responded swatting her hand away.

"Pale?" Sirius asked laughing. "When is Moony _not_ pale?"

"I guess, maybe you should take something... You really don't look well at all."

"She's right, Remus." Lily said looking at him with narrowed eyes. "You don't look too well, perhaps you should take something."

"Girl's I'm fine." Remus said laughing it off.

"Girls?" James said taken back. "Do we look like girl's to you, mate?"

"No," Remus replied rolling his eyes and smirking. "No, you do not look like girls to me but to other people I'm not too sure." He said not being able to get his entire sentence out without laughing.

"Hey!" Sirius said with a warning look. "We've had a pancake fight before and I can have one again!"

"Not in my house!" Lily yelled. "Now," she began again calmly. "If you wish you go outside and throw pancakes at one another be my guest. But you are not permitted to do so inside of my home." She wasn't even able to finish her sentence before three of the boys were gone from the table along with the plates of plain and blueberry pancakes.

"Urg," she sighed and sat back down putting her hand in her face, after a couple seconds she yelled: "Andy! Where are you going...?"

"Pancake fight..." She said innocently, like Andy was innocent.

"Go." She huffed and Andy ran out the door.

"Can I go too?" Heather asked looking at Andy as she ran out the door in haste.

"Yes! Yes! Just go!" Lily said ushering her out and Heather grinned.

"YES!" Heather yelled happily grabbing the plate of blueberry pancakes and running out the door.

Lily sighed heavily and sat down, the only ones remaining at the table were Laura, Peter and herself. After a few seconds she observed Peter being antsy and glancing looks toward the door. Slamming her head down on the table she waved her hand. "Go." She said forcefully and Peter smiled and ran back out the door almost running into Heather who was coming back. "Why are you back?" She asked.

"Uh... no, no reason." Heather said inching into the room and grabbed the plate of chocolate chip pancakes fast and began running out the door again almost running into Andy this time.

"You got the chocolate chip?" Andy asked surprised.

"Yeah, why you up here?" Heather said.

"To get the chocolate chip."

"Get outta my head!" Heather cried and they ran out the door eating the chocolaty goodness on their way out.

Lily sighed and walked over to the window to look out; she shook her head at the sight on her boyfriend and his friends throwing pancakes at one another. It seemed that due to numbers James and Sirius were beating Remus, and also by the looks of it mocking him.

"Does this look like something a girl could do?!" James said whipping the pancake at Remus.

"Depends on the girl." Remus replied. "In fact you throw much like Laura."

"Hey..." Laura said from up in the apartment looking to Lily. "I don't throw that bad."

"As long as you keep believing that." Lily said patting her on the back.

"I do not!" James yelled back.

"How ya feeling _Remy_?" Sirius asked mocking him. "Do you need your medicine? Is it time for little Remmikins to take his little spoonful of sugar with his medicine!?"

"Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down! The medicine go down, medicine go down!" James began singing loud and obnoxiously as he threw the pancakes.

Sirius chimed in with the singing. "Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down in a most delightful way!" They sang.

"This is just faintly disturbing." Heather said to Andy as they munched on their chocolate chip pancakes.

"It is... and a disappointment. I was hoping Remus would take his shirt off" She said.

Heather gave her an odd look. "_What_?"

"Ya now, shirtless pancake fight."

Heather shook her head and they both looked back at the fight.

"Oh well that helps your case with the whole girl issue a lot, because, only _real men_ sing Mary Poppins." Remus said back.

"Of course, mate." James smiled.

"Hey boys!" Lily called from up in the flat still, they all looked up at her with questioning looks. She laughed before she could speak and leaned her elbows out on the windowsill. "You know, you all are still in you pajamas, girls not so bad, but boys, your in your boxers." She said and the men looked down at themselves.

"Bloody hell." Remus said and lowered his pancake.

"Now get inside before you frighten the neighbors... more." Laura said poking her head out as well.

"Alright." The all murmured in disappointment.

Remus and Andy walked in hand in hand down the hall to their apartment. Andy had her mischievous grin on and was biting back a wide grin. "What is it?" Remus asked noticing this behavior.

Andy let lose her smile and began singing like James and Sirius were a few minutes earlier. Only this time it was a different song and she mocked him in a fake cockney accent. "When Remy 'olds yer 'and, ya feel so grand, yer 'eart starts beatin' loike a big brass band." She sang and as she neared the end she put her hand under her tank top and pumped it up and down like a heart beat.

"You just had too?" he asked as they reached their apartment door.

She nodded and continued. "Oh it's a jolly 'oliday with Remy," her voice lowered, the accent faded and as Remus closed the door behind him and he looked back up at her standing in front of him. "No wonder that it's Remy that I love."

Remus smiled and walked over to her putting his hands around her waist. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" He asked.

"I think I am." Her smile becoming wider.

"I'll be in the bedroom." He said.

"I'll be there in a sec." She said and walked over to the coat rack, she grabbed a black cowboy hat

She placed the hat on the outside of the doorknob and then ran over to the bedroom.

Outside Sirius was walking by and was bale to enter their home but was stopped by a passing Heather.

"What on earth are you doing?" She asked.

"Gonna ask Moony if he stole any of the pancakes."

"Look, mate." Heather said and walked over to him putting her arm around his shoulders, which was a challenge due to the height difference. "You see that black hat on the knob?" he nodded. "Don't go in." She said firmly and left.

Sirius got the hint and laughed as he walked away to James's place.

Back inside Remus and Andy were now both in the bedroom and their mouths were getting very acquainted. When suddenly there was a knock at the door, they separated.

Andy narrowed her eyes. "There is a hat on the door, the SOB's." She said slowly

"Just ignore it." Remus said.

It knocked again. "Oh I can't, it'll bug me."

Remus sighed as she got up and walked out of the room. "Oh Andy." He complained, this could possibly ruin the morning plans.

She walked out into the front of the apartment and opened the door. "There is a God dang hat on the dadgum – " she never finished the sentence when she looked out the door and one of her annoyed friends was not on the other side. Upon seeing the stranger she absent mindedly tugged up her flannel pajamas which hung low on her hips. "How can I help ya?"

"Um, is... is this the home of Remus John Lupin?" The man asked.

"Maybe," Andy replied smugly. "Who's askin'?"

"Dad."

Andy turned around to see Remus standing in the doorway to the kitchen with a stunned look on his face. She looked back at the man in the doorway who was looking at Remus and she noticed the bright blue eyes that all the Lupins had. She simply stood there dumbfounded, not know what to say or what she could say her mouth just hung open like a fish out of water.

Lisa: OH MY GOD IT'S DADDY LUPIN!

Heather: Geez... chill.

Lisa: I will... okay... I'm done. I hope you guys like this I had fun writing it, the pancake fight was so unexpected though. It was all just me trying to fill in and make a transition thing to Andy and Remus without just popping them in.

Heather: And you did a good job.

Lisa: I know. Now, ya'll gotta review and I'll update again! How's that sound for all of ya!? Good? Okay!


	13. Father and Son

Lisa: (not going to bother you with pointless drabble)

Father and Son

Sirius was sitting in his apartment flipping through a magazine admiring new additions he could put on his bike when the door burst open. He looked up completely startled dropping the magazine and almost jumping two feet in the air. Lucky for him it was only Andy, he sighed and furrowed his brow at her appearance. She was no longer in her pj's but now in black jeans with her belt buckle not yet buckled, the same tank top she wore with her pajamas but with her leather coat shrugged on over it, her prescription sunglasses on her forehead, and she was stepping deeper into her cowboy boots which it looked like she had just put on seconds before.

"A – Andy..." Sirius said confused as she stormed through his apartment walking to the back counter. "What are you doing here? What's wrong?"

"I'm taking your bike out." She said stubbornly as she grabbed the keys and the biker gloves that Sirius always wore when he went out on the bike.

"What? No, I'm going too; wait, no, my bike, why?" Sirius asked. He knew she could drive it but he still hated it when other people drove his 'baby'.

She stopped at the doorframe before she left and looked back at Sirius. "Why don't ya ask Remus that? Oh and maybe the man who just popped in, I believe Remus called him _dad_." Andy snarled sliding the sunglasses down onto her nose and walked out the door.

Sirius stood their dumfounded for a few seconds with his mouth open. Soon he heard the familiar noise of his bike start up, he ran and looked out the window just in time to see Andy rev the engine and speed out of the parking lot.

"Okay..." He said to himself. "I'm confused." He walked out of his apartment and looked into the room across and down the hall from his. The door was still open and there was a man standing in the doorway, the man closed the door behind him and Sirius stared for a few more seconds before looking away. "Oh Merlin." He whispered.

Remus's father had abandoned him, his mother and his sister when he was a small child at only five years old, and he took with him Remus's older sister of three years and only friend at the time with him. Remus hadn't heard anything of his father or his sister since that day, his other sister, Daina, the one that was left behind with his mother and him. She worked at the ministry now at twenty nine years old, and when she begun working their nine years ago she tried to use her connections to try and find Charlotte, the sister that was taken, but she had no luck in locating them and had most likely given up in finding her.

_A few minutes earlier_

Remus stared at his father standing in the doorway, it was over ten years later, why would he be here now? He tore his gaze away from him and looked at Andy still standing at the door, her hand still on the knob and walked over to her. He knew she knew who he was, he did after all say 'dad'. Andy had every reason to hate him, he abandoned her boyfriend and she was one to hold grudges and with her temper Remus was worried.

"What the fuck is this, Remus?" Andy asked turning her head and looking at Remus with acid in her gaze.

He shook his head. "No, Andy love it's –"

"Did you know he was comin'?" She asked as she turned to face him completely crossing her arms across her chest.

"No, well kinda but no, I didn't know it was him." Remus stuttered.

Andy mumbled something incoherently under her breath and walked out to the bedroom, Remus followed her. His father remained in the doorway but with their raised voices he was able to hear every word.

"You _knew _he was coming?" Andy asked as she threw off her flannel pants and began pulling on her jeans, not bothering to buckle the belt that was already through the loops on them.

"No, I didn't, I knew I knew kinda. Just listen, okay, James was at the ministry the other day and he said someone was poking around the in werewolf registry files looking up addresses. He said just to be careful and not to draw attention to myself or you, that's it."

"Ya didn't bother to tell me any of this?" She asked taking her leather coat out of the closet and putting it on.

"I didn't want to worry you."

"Since when the hell am I worried, Remus! You get more worried then me!" She took her glasses off and threw them on the bed, replacing them with her sunglasses which for now she rested on her head.

"Andy, please, calm down." Remus said running his fingers through his hair in old habit.

"NO! I will not calm down!" She screamed taking her boots out of the closet and stepping into them. She stormed out of the bedroom and into the living room where the front door was. "You can stay here and work somethin' out, but I'm leavin'!" She said and was about to leave but stopped short. "And by the way, my guns are in the bedroom, just in case." She hissed and then left.

Remus and his father were standing their in dead silence, they heard a conversation go on down the hall form the open doors and in a minute they saw Andy stomp by, sunglasses pulled down and keys in her mouth as she pulled the gloves on. Remus fought every urge to go and run after her down the hall but he was able to stay back, he knew what she did she took Sirius's keys she usually did this when she got really upset or frustrated, but Sirius usually went with her, it being a two person bike. Now he wasn't, it was rare that she was this upset that even Sirius wouldn't go.

Another minute later they heard the engine of a motorcycle start up and drive away. Remus sighed and covered his face with his hand, leaving the other on his hip.

His father, John, jutted his thumb toward the hallway. "She seems nice, that your girlfriend?" he asked.

"Why are you here?" Remus said behind his hand.

"I can't come by and see my only son?" He asked stepping further into the room and shutting the door.

"Not after what you did!" Remus yelled walking further into his apartment and running his hand through his hair once again.

"I see you picked up that habit from me." Remus glared at him for a second and let his hand drop down to his side. "Look, Remy – " John started but was cut off.

"_Don't_ call me that." Remus said sharply and turned around to face him. "You're not my father, I don't need one, you're not my friend, I already have plenty, you have _no right_ to call me that."

"Okay, I'm sorry, Remus, you don't understand what was happening when I left." Remus scoffed. "I'm serious, Remus." John said trying to get through to him.

"No, Sirius lives down the hall." Remus said pointing in the direction of Sirius's flat.

"Look, I left, I was scared I didn't know what to do, I tried to find a cure with your mother, but as you know there isn't one. And I –"

"_You_ were scared? _You_?" Remus said laughing. "I was five! I was bitten by a werewolf a year earlier! _You _were not the one going through bloody painful transformations every night not knowing what the hell was happening! _You_ were not the one screaming and begging for it all to stop! _You _were not the one shunned for half your life!"

"I know, and I'm sorry."

"Sorry does not make up for what you did."

"I know, I know, but I just had to come here and make things right. You're a man now, a grown man. I wish I could have seen you grown up. I mean, last time I saw you, you came up to my waist, now you're pretty much taller then me." John said with a sad smile.

"Sorry you missed out on all that." Remus said sarcastically.

"So am I." John said and after a pause he spoke again. "I um, I read your file in the werewolf registry. It said you graduated form Hogwarts, third of your class. I'm proud of you."

"Would have been top if those damn Ravenclaws weren't there," Remus mumbled.

"Remus, I know you must really hate me and I'd like to try and make it up to you. I wanted to go back but there was wasn't anything I could do. It was all so weird. I couldn't just show up."

"Yes you could have, it would have been better if you just showed up then and not now." Remus said swallowing a lump in his throat and then spoke again. "Where's Charlotte... How come she's not here?" He asked slowly.

"She's..." John seemed to get choked up. "She's at St. Mungos. A couple months ago a store was attacked in a wizarding community in France, that's where we've been, she worked their while she was trying to get a teaching position at Beauxbatons, Charms... It was by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, he and his followers attacked the store."

Remus rolled his eyes for a moment at the sound of the nickname for Voldemort, people had begun calling him this because of all the horrible things he had done over the years. Some thought it was foolish but others saw it as a relief. But Remus was not focused on this for long his face soon was etched into worry because of his sister.

"Sh – she's going to be okay... right?" Remus asked trying to get the words out.

"They don't know, she's stable now but their not sure there's much more they can do for her." John replied.

"Did you tell mom and Daina?" Remus asked quietly.

"Yeah, just before I came here." John said.

"What room is she in?" Remus asked.

"I'll take you there... and your girlfriend...?"

"What about her?"

"Does she really have guns?"

"Merlin... I hope not... but that's Andy for you... crazy colonial." Remus said as he went into the bedroom to chenge out of his pj's and head to the hospital.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

They arrived at the room about fifteen minutes later, with Remus now fully clothed. Remus never like hospitals, probably because of his frequent visits at them when he was a chills. He always found they too clean, a little creepy because of all the white and how the halls echoed when you walked alone. But now all the worried he had of them were gone, he had to see his sister, he hadn't seen her in thirteen years, he had to see her now. Especially not that she was hurt.

They arrived at the door and Remus looked up at his father for a moment. He nodded and allowed Remus in, he would wait outside, he knew they needed a private moment.

He walked up to the bed; a woman was lying on it. She looked about twenty, she had curly brown hair falling around her shoulders and Remus didn't even need her to open her eyes but he knew that if she did bright blue orbs would be shinning back at him. Her arms were resting on her stomach and she had a bandage around her head and some small ones on her arms. Her light skin was covered with a thin layer of perspiration and dark circles were under her eyes.

Remus sat down next to her, he knew she was awake but he didn't know what to say. Or even if she would recognize him, it had been so many years.

After a few more seconds she moved and her eyes opened into small slits, he saw them then. The bright blue eyes. Her brow furrowed for a few seconds and she sat up a little more reaching up with her one hand to rub her eyes.

"Um... who, who exactly are you and what are you doing in my room?" She asked and Remus winced at the fact she didn't recognize him. But he wasn't expecting anything else.

"Charlotte... It's... well it's me... your baby brother... Remus." He said choking on his words.

He saw her eyes widen and sit sat up in her bed more. "Remy? Oh my God, Remy!" She cried and leaned over to hug him, he did as well and they embraced. "I never thought I'd see you again." She whispered.

"You didn't?" Remus almost laughed. "You were everything to me."

They held one another for a few more minutes until they broke apart and Charlotte looked Remus up and down holding his hands. "Oh my... Rem... you at you. You're grown up."

"Not the first time I heard that today."

"Oh God, dad, he got you?" Remus nodded. "Oh no, I know that had to be hard on you. I know you must be angry with him and when I think about I still am too, but I've forgave him years ago. I hope you can too, you have to admit Remy, it was hard on everyone."

"But it wasn't my fault." Remus said his voice suddenly becoming cold.

"I know, I know everything, I know what dad did to Grayback, but that's why he left, that's what he told me. He told me that he thought it was all his fault, he said that he couldn't stay there anymore knowing it was his fault."

Remus scoffed. "I'm sorry, Char, but I can't believe that. He left me when I was five, when I needed my dad. I can't forgive him for that." Remus said softly.

"I know, but let's just forget all that now." Charlotte said and sighed. "Let's catch up, I know zilch about my baby brother and I'd kinda of like to know more. So, um this may be a little mean but... were you able to go to school?"

Remus laughed and looked down to hide his face. "Yes, I did in fact go to school. I went to Hogwarts actually, Dumbledore became headmaster and he let me come."

"Really!" She exclaimed. "That's great! Um how did you do? You always did like books, even when you were little."

"Very well in all my classes, save for Potions, Defense I did really good in. You know darks arts and all, I am in that category. I was the keeper on the Gryffindor Quidditch team for four years and I graduated really well, and while I was there I met the greatest friends in the world, and my current girlfriend."

"Awwww," She said with a smile. "My little brother has a girlfriend; I can't wait to meet her."

"That may be hard; when dad showed up she got really mad, took Sirius's motorcycle and kind of ran off." Charlotte looked horrified. "Oh but don't worry, she always comes back, she's done this before, but normally she rides with Sirius. She must have been really mad... but I really don't blame her, I didn't exactly paint the best picture of dad."

"Sirius is one of your friends?" She asked.

"Oh yes, pardon me, um, Sirius Black, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew and I, we call ourselves the Marauders, bit of trouble makers we are." He laughed. "They were my first friends, and when they found out what I am they didn't run. They accepted me as me and helped me out and now we can even joke about it and it doesn't do anything."

"They sound great," Charlotte smiled. "What your girlfriend's name?"

"Andromeda Volk or Andy, I don't think I've called her Andromeda in, well forever. But we met at Hogwarts, she's a werewolf too, born and raised in America but at the death of her father they moved here, her father was English." Remus explained. "She's so amazing, I love her."

"She sounds wonderful."

"She is, well what about you, Char? What have you been up too?"

"Well I graduated form Beauxbatons, top of my class in charms. But that's about all I was top in anything for. After that I got a job at a shop that sells potions, it was fun. I was trying to get a job at the school, they were interviewing one other person and if they didn't get it then I would. I guess they got it now." Charlotte laughed softly.

"Oh I'm sure you'll find something to do, so why are you still here? You look pretty good, talking fine and acting fine and everything. They just leaving you here over night?" Remus asked.

"No, um, Remus they say that I was hit with some kind of curse. They don't know what it is and its messing with my heart a little." She saw the worry across his face and gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I'll pull through, I'm sure they'll find the problem and I'll be out of here in a couple days. No worries."

"I hope, I lost you once, I don't want to do it again." Remus said.

"I know, Rem, and trust me, I'm not going anywhere." She smiled and took his hand. "So, that little summary you gave me can't be all that's happened in your life. Let me hear some stuff. You said you and your friends caused trouble, exactly what kind of trouble?"

Lisa: Aw, now that was sweet and a little Remy angsty in the beginning which is always good.

Heather: For you, not all of us are weird.

Lisa: Yeah... I'm weird... but everyone please review and tell me what 'cha think!

Heather: YES!


	14. Shots of Whiskey

Lisa: I'm gonna talk this time dang it; um... well I have not much to say maybe toward the end when I'm in a better mood. I'm watching Anaconda (the original) and Gary, Owen Wilson's character, just died so I'm kinda bummed out.

Heather: She's on an Owen Wilson binge.

Lisa: I am and I didn't even realize it, I watched both Shanghai movies, obviously I'm watching Anaconda, I plan on watching Night at the Museum at some point and then Haunted. I didn't mean for it to happen honest. It just happen to come out that way.

Heather: Someone's fangirling.

Lisa: I am...

Shots of Whiskey

Remus left the hospital not in the slightest bit of good moods, this day had been all around crazy for him. It started out normal, pancake fight, potential sex, you know the usual but then his father had to come by and turn his whole world around. He would have been fine if his father just leaved him alone, if he never saw him again after that day he left he would have been fine. But no, he had to come back he had to destroy his life all over again. He tried to apologize, say that he meant to come back all these years but if he really wanted to come back, he would have.

He left his father in there with her, they had talked for two hours until Remus decided he had to go back home, the rest of his family had arrived anyway, he had to let them catch up with her as well. And besides he had left without telling anyone and leaving everyone to get their opinions of what was going on by Andy's reaction, and if you based your life off Andy's reactions something was not going to work out for you. He didn't mean to ridicule her but she overreacted, then again her whole family did, it was in her blood, she was bold, she was from Texas, she was an American. That says it all right there.

He also worried about Sirius, he tended to overreact to sometimes but he also knew when to be rational. Remus only hoped that Sirius could be rational for this, they all knew what his father did to him and all of them swore that if they saw him they would kill him. James probably wouldn't hold that to him, he would probably act like Andy did or perhaps maybe a little bit more under control them she had. He would fume to Lily have her calm him down then he would come back good as new. But Sirius... Remus saw what Sirius was capable of, he saw it with Snape almost every day in their first few years at school. He was horrible to him, Remus always wanted to say something to him, that maybe he went to far one or two times but he was always so scared to do so. Now, Remus knew that Sirius wouldn't kill him, but he could hurt him and chances are he would, unless he got to him to stop him.

He walked along the road, too many thoughts clouding his mind, so he just stared at the ground and hopefully people would see fit to get out of his way, or else he was quite sure he would run into somebody. Luckily so far that was the case, many people ignored him, some gave him sideways glances at his appearance. He admitted he wasn't entirely neat with his looks, but then again, when was he really.

"Remus!" He heard and looked up; he saw Sirius, James and Peter jogging toward him.

"Moony, are you okay, man?" Sirius said as he reached his friend. "We heard what happened; Daina came by the apartment before she left for the hospital. She told us everything."

"Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine, guys, really I am." Remus said.

"We've heard you say that before." Peter said folding his arms.

"I really mean it, honest, guys." Remus sighed. "It's just kind of weird."

"You can say that again." James said giving off a nervous laugh. "Come, on Rem, we better get you back to your flat."

"Where do you think I was headed?" Remus muttered under his breath. "Um, Sirius, you have to promise me something." He said thinking back to his thoughts of what Sirius would do.

"What is it, Moony?" He asked.

"Don't kill him." Remus said simply.

"What? Kill who?"

"My dad, don't kill him."

"Oh come on, Remus, what makes you think I would do that?" Sirius asked sighing.

"I can see his point, Pads," James said coming up behind Sirius, making Sirius turn his head around. "You do have a track record for being a little irrational. You can have a bit of a temper."

"Irrational?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, you tend not to think before you act." Remus said. "And alls I'm saying is, just think before you kill my father with and unforgivable."

Sirius sighed and stopped making everyone else stop along with him. "Guys, you know I wouldn't do that. I won't do anything, I swear." He began waling once again, "Besides, I'd let Andy take care of him and just let me watch, it would be a hell of a lot more amusing."

"Speaking of Andy..." Remus said. "Where is she?"

"To be honest, mate, we don't know." James said regrettably. "After she left she just... well, left. We don't know where she went. But as we speak Heather, Laura and Lily are looking for her now."

Remus sighed and rubbed his face with his hands.

"Don't worry." Peter said. "We'll find her, and she, she always comes back, right?"

"Yeah." Sirius said. "She does, like a dog, she always finds her way home."

"You're the dog." Remus mumbled as they continued to walk down the street.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"We'll never find her." Laura complained as the three girls walked along the streets of their town.

"Stop being so negative." Lily scolded. "Now come on, I have one more idea of where she might be."

"Where's that?" Heather asked.

"The restaurant I waitress at, there's a bar, not one of those bars for people just waiting for their food it's an actual bar. She picked me up from work one day and she said she loved it."

"Why didn't we go there first?" Laura asked.

"Well because I didn't think she'd go there, there are so many other places she could have gone too and it's a bit of a stretch that she'd be there anyway." Lily responded.

The bar was about a four blocks away from where they were, so it wasn't a horrifically long walk but it did take some time to get there. They were all worried that if they got their too late that she would leave, but that was a bit of a pointless fear, this was Andy, never really left to early if she was at bar.

The reached the bar in no time, looking around the parking lot they saw Sirius's motorcycle parked out front, and when they entered they were hit by music, not music they were used to. It was the stuff Andy listened too, country. The entire restaurant was Americanized; no wonder Andy liked it so much it was like she was back home. Lily led them over to the bar and right away they spotted the familiar leather jacket and her cowboy boots wrapped around the legs off the stool.

"Andy." Lily said as they walked over. "Are you okay?"

"You know, whiskey really is great." She said looking at the shot of whiskey she held in her hand before she took it.

"You know you shouldn't drink to solve everything." Laura sighed and sat down on a stool next to Andy.

"I'm not, I'm not even close to being drunk yet, and you know I have to drink a lot to get drunk." Andy said, and it was true, she could handle her liquor very well, she's only gotten really drunk a few times. It usually never came out too well, the time with her and Sirius was a wonderful example of that.

"Are you gonna come home and talk to Remus?" Lily asked.

"Nope!" Andy said cheerfully.

"Come on, Andy, you have to. You can't just sit here all night." Heather pleaded with her.

"Watch me!" She exclaimed.

"Andy, you're not that cold and heartless." Lily said.

Andy scoffed before pouring another shot. "You don't know me very well then."

"Okay then, we'll just have to sit here and drink with you then." Laura said taking her new shot of whiskey out of her hand and taking it, pulling a face afterward.

"Laura, don't drink whiskey." Andy said taking the shot back. "Yer a dang greenhorn, ya can't handle your liquor and besides, you're a God damn mean drunk."

"She's right on that, you are a mean drunk Laura, you hit and you yell and then you fall over." Heather said.

Shrugging Laura replied, "Oh well, until Andy comes back to the flat I'm going to sit here and just drink with her."

"No Laura by the time I get anywhere near drunk you'll be in the hospital with alcohol poisoning or somethin', don't." Andy said taking the entire bottle of whiskey off the table and away from her.

"Then go back to the flat with us."

"Or I could just sit on you and end it now." She said glaring.

"Andy you have to come back, Remus is worried and going though a rough time right now." Lily tried to reason.

She scoffed and took a swig right out of the bottle. "Hard time my ass, he knew that son of a bitch was comin' and he didn't tell me. He should'a known better."

"Andy, do know where he is now?" Lily asked.

"No."

"He's at the hospital, his sister was hurt, and no not Daina, it was Charlotte. You know the sister that his father took with him when he left? Well that's why his father came back, to tell him, she was working and the store she worked at was attacked by Voldemort." Lily said and Andy's face softened.

"Oh my God, you're kiddin'." She said.

"No, we're not." Laura said. "Now come back, I'm sure Remus wants to talk to you."

"He probably does, but that does not excuse him lyin' to me or his daddy just showin' up without a word, I mean he could have called first, we have a phone." Andy said.

"So, will you come back?" Heather asked.

"Hold on one minute." Andy said pouring herself another shot of whiskey and taking it real quick. "Ahhh, okay I'm good, we can go. But I'll tell ya, if that pansy ass man Rem calls dad tries to run I'm gonna clothesline him."

"Wait, wait, wait." Lily said as they stood up and Andy grabbed her wallet off the table leaving some money on the counter.

"What?" She asked taking Sirius's keys out of her pocket.

"You are not going to drive, you're drunk." Lily said.

"I'm not drunk, why is everyone convinced I'm like Laura." Andy asked.

"How many shots have you had?" Heather asked.

"I dunno, not many, but c'mon Heather, you know I don't get drunk quick. I'm fine!"

"Andy we both know that your personality can stay pretty much the same when you're wasted so how the hell do we know you're sober?" Heather asked.

"Um, I don't know, how about my word!?" She cried.

"Andy, to be frank, your word is no good." Lily said. "Now give me the keys or I will hex you."

"Dammit..." She sighed and handed over the keys.

"I'll send a message to Sirius and tell him where he can pick his bike up at." She said and they walked outside to the bike. Taking out her wand she had everyone stand around her to shield her from the passing muggles as she silently sent a message to Sirius. After a few moments she turned back around. "He got it and he'll be here at any moment, he's going to apparate."

A few seconds later they saw Sirius walked around from the back of the bar. "There's my sweet, sweet, baby." He said walking over to the motorcycle and stroking it with his hand. "What did that mean, mean lady do to you?"

"For Pete's sake it's a bike, Sirius." Andy sighed.

"Andy, you better get back, I think Remus wants to talk to you." Sirius said standing back up, becoming serious again.

"Yeah," She said looking down. "I know."

"You can apparate back there; it's the place James always uses when he comes to see Lily when she's working." Sirius said pointing to the back.

"Wait, that's where he comes from, the little git," Lily said crossing her arms.

"Thanks, Sirius." Heather said and brushed passed him, they walked around the corner and when they were out of sight Sirius began examining his bike throely again. "And Sirius, don't violate the bike while we're gone!" Heather yelled from around the corner making Sirius wince and look around at the staring people.

Lisa: Wooo! Okay people better mood much better mood. I watched Shanghai Noon again, hey it already out from the other day I just slide the DVD in. But thanks to all those who reviewed and review again

Heather: Yes!

Lisa: And by the way next week I'll be away at SLS aka boot camp. Wish me luck, but I'll try and write a couple more chapters and have Heather upload it while I'm gone around the middle of the week next week.

Heather: I will?

Lisa: yeah, ya will.

Heather: When was I gonna hear this?

Lisa: (shrug) whenever I remembered, or I would have left a message on your account for you. Like you ever look at your uploaded documents though...

Heather: (glare)

Lisa: Yes well like I said review and I'll be back folks!


	15. What are Brothers For?

Steph: Where is Lisa at...?

Heather:...I don't remember!! (has been crying about it like a WUSSY)

Steph:...Don't have to get so emotional...

Heather:...It's not the same. Let's just cut to the chase...before I start...wussin' out again.

What are Brothers For?

Andy apparated into her apartment several seconds later, surprising Remus and almost making him fall of his chair. He looked up at her and gulped, he stood and began walking over to her.

"Let me get one thing straight, Remus." Andy said her accent becoming thick and dangerous, it always happened when she got mad. "You pissed me off, big time, and you lied to me, and that S.O.B. stepped foot into my home so I am ticked. If that man dares come in here again I will kick his ass."

"I completely understand." Remus said walking over to her. "And I apologize, with everything in my being, I know how you feel about him and you know how I feel about him but... but Andy... you know, he's my father even if he did leave. I guess he's back now..."

"What makes you think he'll stick around?" She asked harsher then she meant too. "He left once, he might do it again."

"I don't know."

"Then why are you letting yourself believe all this shit?"

"I don't know..."

"Exactly, you don't know! Remus, you don't know! It's all false hope!"

"That's easy for you to say, Andy! You're father didn't leave you because you were a monster! He didn't leave because just the mere thought of being in the same house with a werewolf disgusted him! You're dad loved you! Did you know that the first week or so before he left he yelled at me every day! Hell, he's even bloody hit me! For no God damned reason at all! He just hated that fact that his perfect family was now tainted with a werewolf's blood!"

"You're right Remus! My daddy didn't leave me! Not at all! I just haven't seen him in over ten freakin' years because he's been wearin' a freakin' invisibility cloak! Wake the hell up! My dad's dead! He did leave me! He left me, my mama, my brother and my sister! Just like yer daddy left your family!"

"But he loved you! Mine didn't! He left because of me! It's all my fault my mum had to sell her favorite jewelry to pay the bills! My fault my sister had to get a summer job and help pay the cost of food! It's all my fucking fault!"

"Then why do you believe his lies!"

"I don't know! ... It's just... Charlotte said..."

"I don't give a damn what Charlotte said, Remus, he's probably been filling her head with lies for years, excuses on why he left, to make himself sound better." Andy said and then softened her voice taking deep breaths and trying to control her anger. "Look, I'm not trying to be harsh or mean it's just that I know he's your dad and I know you want him to stay but chances are he won't. He lied to Charlotte to seem better; he'll lie to you too."

Remus shook his head, he knew Andy was right. He knew it, he remembered thinking it himself. But Charlotte said he had changed, but if he really changed he would have come back earlier. He sighed and then nodded. "I know... I know... he's a deadbeat and I shouldn't get my hopes up... I know..."

"Remus I'm sorry," She said quietly. All the hate she was feeling before towards him was gone. She walked toward him and put her arms around him as silent tears began to fall from his eyes.

"I just wanted him to stay so bad... just to be a dad..." Remus said.

"I know, baby, I know." Andy said. "I'm sorry for leaving, I overreacted... I know I did, I know my temper."

Remus nodded his head in her shoulder.

"It's not your fault, Rem." She said quietly into his ear. "None of it is, it's Graybacks fault. Every bit of it, he's the cause for all the drama in all our lives."

"Not yours... It's all me..."

"No, my life too," she smirked. "Who d'ya think bit my daddy when he lived in London? Daddy was one of his first victims."

"Really?" Remus asked lifting his head up off her shoulder and using his hand to wipe a few tears off his cheek.

"See? We got more in common then you thought, eh?" She said.

"What would I do without you, Andy?" He asked pulling her into a tighter embrace.

"Well, I'm no medi-witch, but you would probably die." She said making him laugh slightly.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Lily walked down the hall and upon passing Andy and Remus's door and leaned over and heard them talking quietly. Smiling to herself she walked away and back to her flat where James was waiting. Opening the door she walked in and saw James on the couch watching Monty Python.

"Oh, Flower," James said getting up and meeting her. "Are they still fighting?"

"No, thank Merlin, I hate it when they fight. They both get so loud and horrible. Not like our fights... no they just consist of name calling and shots at the others family." Lily sad leaning into James.

"Yeah, and then we stop and realize we're both pricks because we forgot about what we were fighting about in the first place." James finished for her and she looked up at him, giving him a look.

"I _always _remember what we're fighting about, _Jim_, it's you who forget and then get sick of fighting and apologize for days."

"Sorry, Lils." James said furrowing his brow and wondering why he was apologizing but then decided to push it away before he got in trouble. "And don't call me Jim, you know I hate that. It's James, Jamie or Prongs you know that."

"Like I would ever call you Prongs." Lily said laughing. "So, is Sirius back yet with his bike? Last I saw he was violating it."

"Your words or Heather's?"

"Now why wouldn't I say something like that?"

"Because you're not vulgar." James replied. "But no, not quite yet, I think he wanted to out for a bit of a joy ride before he came back."

"Sounds like him." Lily said. "So, that means no one will be interrupting us for some time? Because, Lord knows Sirius will be out for hours."

"Yes it does." James smiled suggestively and raised his eyebrows at her. "Does this mean what I think it means my Lily Flower?"

"I think so, _but_ we're having dinner first, a nice one. All romantic and crap, and that means no ordering Chinese food, either take me out or cook me a meal with tall red candles, red roses and cheesy music." Lily smiled at his expression and he sighed.

"Whatever you say my Flower, you know I would do anything for you."

"I know you would." She said and they kissed.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Lily and James were in their bed late at night sleeping after a long, romantic night. Tangled in the sheets, both wearing minimum to nothing... and it was closer to the nothing. James slept with a small smile on his face and his arm wrapped around Lily's waist.

The night was peaceful and quiet, or it was so far. Until their was a knock at their front door. James's eyes opened first and he groaned moving around in the bed waking Lily up. She listened to the knocking for a moment before turning to James and giving him a sympathetic look.

"You better go see who it is, darling." She said to him and he moaned and groaned some more.

"Oh do I have to?"

"Yes, you have too, if their knocking at this time of night it must be important. Maybe something has happened and The Order has scheduled an emergency meeting." This has happened before, a group of Death Eaters were found preparing to attack a local muggle store, they were called together and arrived at the store as they were attacking, their were no deaths only injuries.

James got up out of the bed and grabbed his discarded pajamas and pulling them on, not bothering with the shirt. He took his glasses off the end table and out them on his face blinking at the sudden clarity of his vision. He walked out the door almost running into it, he hadn't expected it to be closed and headed out into the living room where the front door was. The knocking sound was heard once again from the other side.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist I'm coming." James slurred in his sleepy state and looked through the peep hole before opening the door. "Blood hell, Remus." He murmured and opened the door to find Remus and Peter standing there looking worried.

"What?" He asked bluntly.

"It's Sirius, come on James, follow us." Remus said.

"What? What about Sirius?"

"Well," Peter began to explain. "You know Remus has his super wolfy hearing and all? Well he heard something form Padfoot's flat that apparently he finds disturbing. I didn't hear it because, obviously, I have no super wolfy hearing"

"More then disturbing." Remus said as he walked over to Sirius's door. He knocked on it several times. "See this? No answer and I know he home I could hear him."

"So?" James asked. "Maybe he's sleeping, like I should be right now."

"No, he's not, or if he's is he's very restless and I'm worried. You would be too if you could hear what I'm hearing."

"Okay then, so what now?" Peter asked, "We can't exactly barge right in."

"Why not?" James asked. "He does it to me and Lily all the time."

"Very true, let's go." Remus said and proceeded to open the door. When they did James heard why Remus was so concerned. They heard whimpering, and what sounded like crying coming from the bedroom.

James went first signaling for them to follow his lead. The only sound they made was the soft pattering of their bare feet on the hard wooden floor as they went to the bedroom. They didn't wan to startle him, James had seen how jumpy he was getting and this certainly was attached to it.

James pushed the door to the bedroom open and gasped at the sight. Sirius was on his bed completely lost in his sheets and tossing and turning everywhere. Pained moans were escaping his mouth and he moved and a look of complete loss and hurt was on his face. His shirt was off which exposed some of the worse bruises along his ribs that still had yet to heal fully. It reminded them of the horrible beating Sirius did in fact endure.

They walked over to the bed and knelt down by their suffering friend. James looked up to Remus and Peter helplessly, he had no idea what to do. He shrugged at them and Remus shrugged back and mouthed 'wake him' to James.

Slowly James placed his hand on Sirius's shoulder and shook him lightly. This made him sit up and yell out but they weren't quite sure he had woken, James began panicking he was no doctor or nurse, none of them were he had no idea what to do, but while he tried to think Sirius kept on yelling and crying.

"Get away from me! Get the hell away!"

Remus quickly put a silencing charm up as not to alert any of the girls of what was going on. Sirius would be so embarrassed if any of them found out.

"Sirius! Sirius, it's just us!" James yelled to his friend who still didn't seem to hear him.

"Leave me alone! Please! Stop, just leave me alone! I don't know what you're talking about please!"

"Sirius!" Remus yelled now at his friends side too along with a confused Peter. "Sirius please it's just us! It's Remus, James and Peter!"

"Oh God! HELP ME!"

"It's Prongs, Moony and Wormtail!" James tried with their nicknames. This seemed to calm him.

"You're here?" Sirius asked his voice shaking. "Why did you take so long?" His voice was breaking as he spoke.

"We tried, mate, we're here now." Remus said in a quiet voice. It seemed that Sirius was waking up further and not caught in his dream any longer.

Sirius eyes were now open and alert at his surroundings, but his weeping continued, he didn't even try to stop it anymore. James looked at him with sympathy and pulled Sirius into a hug, surprising the older boy; Remus looked at them and wrapped his arms around them soon followed by Peter.

They sat like that for some time until Sirius pulled away from all them, wiping his face with the back of his hand. "What are you doing here?" he asked keeping his head down staring at the lingering bruises on his chest.

"Moony heard you, he knocked but you wouldn't answer so he got us." James explained.

"I'm sorry I was a bother." Sirius said still staring down.

"You weren't." Peter insisted.

"Sirius, if something troubling you, please, please tell us." Remus said reaching over and putting his hand on Sirius who flinched away.

"It's nothing," Sirius murmured.

"It's something." James said, "Sirius, you're our friend... Our brother... You have to tell us when something's bothering you." he sighed frustrated. "I knew you weren't fine last time we talked."

"I am fine... really."

"Sirius, listen to me..." Remus said and swallowed a lump in his throat. "it's not something to be ashamed of about having nightmares."

"Really now?" Sirius said sarcastically.

"Yes, really." Remus said leaning down so he could look Sirius in the eye without Sirius lifting his head. "I have them every year, remember the horrible nightmares I get on the anniversary of my werewolf bite? You lot help me get through that every year and the hundreds of other nightmares I have. You know how bad they get, and you always help me... what makes you think we wouldn't help you?"

Sirius muttered something.

"What was that?" James asked.

"It's not supposed to happen to me!" Sirius yelled looking up at them.

"What? What do you mean?" Peter asked him.

"I mean it's not supposed to happen to me! I'm Sirius Black, I'm the great git... the hard ass if you will." He gave a small smile and then it quickly faded. "I'm not supposed to have nightmares; I'm not supposed to cry." He said wiping his eyes one more time at the falling tears. "This isn't supposed to happen to me; I don't get kidnapped and beaten to a bloody pulp. I grew up with my father, he's beaten me... I can get over that... but I can't get over this... why? I want to... I really do..."

James put his arm around Sirius again. "It will be hard; Sirius, but it'll take time. You have to stop ignoring everything and just... just..."

"Just what, James? _Embrace_ it? Allow it to affect me in my life? I can't do that, I'm in auror training, I can't get a hex thrown at me and then break down crying."

"I know you can't but you will get through this, we're all here for you and if you ever need to talk to someone just tell us and not to sound cliché but we won't judge, or ridicule, or assume or anything, we'll just listen." James consoled.

"He's right." Remus said. "You don't have to be scared to say anything; you remember what happened when I was? I kept who I was away from you guys for the longest time and I regret it now."

"And when you came to my house that night, remember, you had a split lip, a black eye and bruises everywhere all from your father. You kept us in the dark about what was happening in your life and that's what happened, don't do it again." James pleaded to him. "We love you, Sirius."

"You're our brother, don't forget that." Remus said. "We may not be blood related."

"But we are family, we are brothers, we're the Marauders." Peter finished.

"I love you guys too." Sirius said getting teary eyes again. "Thanks."

"What are brothers for?" James asked and the four once again pulled the other closer and held there position in a long hug.

Steph: See, was that so Bad...?

Heather: But that was emotional...

Steph: But it got your mind off--- Oh...dang it.

Heather: Lisa would want you guys to review and leave nice comments...I'm gunna drown my sorrows in left over pizza.


	16. The Loss of a Winner

Lisa: Ya know... just because I go away for a week don't mean I don't check my e-mail for reviews when I come back.

Heather: Yeah!

Lisa: You make my beta sad.

Heather: Yeah!

Lisa: But whatever enjoy this chapter. I haven't written it yet but I think it's gonna be good.

The Loss of a Winner

"James! JAMES!" Lily screamed as she fired another spell at a death eater. They were starting to gang up on her and she was beginning to get worried that they would over power her. She may have been an incredibly smart student while in school but she wasn't entirely prepared for real combat yet. In fact none of them were quite sure they were ready.

They had all gone through training, not much though; during the order meeting Dumbledore make it perfectly clear that he trusted all of their skills. Mad-Eye Moody had given them some new spells and jinxes for combat and some maneuvers they could use. But their training only last a week and a half before they were needed.

Dumbledore wouldn't dream of putting such young inexperienced people in combat with them but they needed them. It was no secret that the Order of the Phoenix did not have many members and were greatly outnumbered by Voldemort's death eaters. They needed all the help they could get, and they had eight new members that were perfectly capable.

It all started when they were fast asleep at three o'clock in the morning. A shinning silver phoenix came flying into their rooms waking them all up. They knew what this meant, they had been told on their first meeting. When a patronus came to them regardless where or time they had to gather to the place of their meetings.

They all did right away, Lily and James were out first, then Andy and Remus, Heather, Peter and Laura and Sirius was last. He was buttoning his pants as he left with an open shirt and a busty blond in minimal sleepwear confused behind him. He quickly told her to lock the door on her way out and he left with everyone else. It was a very good thing she was a witch because if she wasn't they may have some trouble explaining a silver bird flying up to the bed at three in the morning.

But they went to the meeting place and were briefed very quickly on the situation. Death eaters were attacking a muggle village, there was dozens of them, which was a painful comparison to the members of the order, there were maybe two dozen of them.

They went to the site all ready to kick some death eater butt; however in the first few minutes of battle they quickly realized this was not going to be simple and easy. They were not going to be able to fight like they did in the movies, the second you took down one, two more were on you, no witty banter or finishing lines as they feel. There was no time for that.

"JAMES!!" Lily screamed as they started to over power her.

"LILY!" James yelled looking through all the people for his girlfriend. "Lily where are you!" He yelled as he resulted to punching a death eater in the face to get him away.

"Over here!"

James realized what a stupid question it was wasn't like she could give him exact coordinates. Finally he spotted her flaming red hair through the crowd and ran too her shouting spell after spell. Soon he reached her, she was on the ground gripping her left arm, luckily that wasn't her wand arm.

"Are you okay?" James asked looking at her arm.

"I'm fine, James look out!" She yelled a protection spell just as a hex came flying at them.

"Good thing I have you watching my back." James grinned and helped her up. "From now on, I'm not leaving your side." He screamed a curse when he finished aimed at a death eating coming toward them.

"That's sweet, honey, but I don't think that'll work, you have other friends –" she yelled a hex, "and family to take care of. I'll be fine."

"I'm still not leaving." He said.

"We'll see how that works out." She said and fired a couple more.

In another part of the village Remus and Sirius were side by side fighting, they had stuck close with the girls for the first few minutes but they quickly lost them. Sirius was supporting a large gash on his head and Remus one on his leg. Remus was also getting a little feral, yellow eyes replaced blue ones and he growled when he fired a spell. Sirius was getting a little worried; he always did when his friend went feral on them.

"Remus, you sure you're gonna be alright, mate!?" He yelled through the battle.

"I'll be fine, Pads, don't worry about me." Remus growled.

"Yeah, well that noise coming out of the back of your throat makes me worry." Sirius said looking back at his friend real quick before going back to firing his curses.

"Always did." Remus smiled briefly.

Sirius fired a hex and then turned around quickly firing another in the opposite direction narrowly missing Remus's head and making his tawny hair brush past his face. Remus's eyes widened as he saw the bright hex soar past him, he turned around and looked at Sirius.

"Hey, watch it, mate! You almost took my head off!"

"Well tell your head to get out of the way." Sirius concluded.

Remus rolled his eyes before he was sucked back into the battle, firing more curses at his attackers. "Damn you bloody ass holes!" he yelled at them.

"Took the words right out of my mouth!" Sirius said doing another maneuver that Moody taught them in the past week and taking out two. "Oi! Peter! Look out!" He yelled upon seeing Peter fighting with one death eater only to have another one sneak up behind him.

Peter turned around and gasped at the closeness of the hooded figure attacking him. Sirius ran up to him and tackled the person from behind totally forgetting he had a wand. As he was down Peter took out the man he was facing off and kicked the death eater Sirius had pinned down in the face knocking him out.

"Thanks for that." Peter said.

"Should be thanking you." Sirius said patting him on the back before he remembered exactly where he was. "Wait, where's Remus?" he asked and looked back over to where he was standing only moments ago, Remus was gone.

"Dunno, I think I saw him run that way." Peter said pointing.

"Git," Sirius mumbled, he wanted to run over there and find his lycan friend but he knew he couldn't. There was no way he could find Remus with just a general direction for his guide. Besides he was with Peter now, he had to stay by someone throughout this fight.

Lily was right, James thought landing hard on the ground as he was knocked back by ironically a knock back jinx. They were separated after only a few minutes. He had no idea where she was now, he knew he should be worried though, chances are she found someone else, the village wasn't too big she could have easily ran into another order member.

"Holy shit! James!"

He looked over and saw Heather running toward him firing at a death eater that James didn't notice and he would probably be dead if she didn't come when she did. "Bloody hell, you need a baby sitter don't you?" Heather asked giving him a hand to help him up before they were back to back fighting.

"Probably," he answered. "Have you seen Lily?"

"She's fine, she's with Remus on the other side of that house!" She said and pointed.

"You're sure?"

"Last time I saw here, yeah."

"Anyone else?"

"Uh, Sirius is over there I think Peter is too he was with Marlene... I think Laura's with Dumbledore but that was some time ago, no clue about Andy or anyone else for that matter." Heather said sadly before attacking again.

"Damn," James said, if anything happened to any of his friends he would never forgive himself. When they were in school people had identified him as the leader of the group, he never really saw himself as one but as the unofficial leader it was his job to protect them all.

"They'll be fine, James." Heather said in as much of a calming voice she could at this time. "You've never had cause to worry about them before, why should you, oh shit!" she fired again. "have to worry now."

"I dunno," He hexed one and then punched another. "I just am."

"Well stop. Dammit! Get down!" She screamed as a killing curse went flying over their heads. "I'll be right back." She said and ran across the way, James could still see her but he began to follow her just in case.

"Heather what are you doing!?" he yelled at her.

"Having a little fun!" She screamed and took on the death eater who shot the killing curse at them. "C'mere you son of a bitch!"

"Be careful!" he yelled and then felt a searing pain on the back of his head and is world blacked out for a minute.

"James! James!" he heard Heather yelled and he opened his eyes. "Are you okay!?" She asked bending over him the death eater she was facing before dead a few yards away.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." He said.

"You sure?" She asked a line of worry across her brow.

"Yeah I'm fine," James waved her off.

"Okay... good, your head took a good knock there. Thought I just might have to apparate you to the safe house." Heather said giving him a small grin. "I'll help ya up, I'd still get that checked out though."

"Since when did you become a medi-witch?"

"Well, I do deal with animals, and therefore I need to know a little something about how to take care of injured ones and you're not that far off."

"Hey," he said and she laughed.

"HEATHER! JAMES! LOOK OUT!" They heard someone scream suddenly.

They looked around to see several death eaters aiming their wands at the preparing to fire the killing curse. Heather pushed James down to the ground first making him lose grip on his wand and dropped it, it he did not know where it landed. This left Heather standing a second longer then he.

That second was one second she stood too long.

The green beams of light hit her in her chest and she cried out as she fell to the ground. James watched in horror as Heather fell down next to him. More green rays of light went off and he looked up for a moment, it was Andy killing all the death eaters near her in a rage.

"HEATHER!" She screamed running over to her friend. "God dammit Heather! Wake the fuck up!" She screamed as tears began to run down her face. "Jesus Heather, wake up!"

"Andy." James said reaching over to her, but all he earned was her slapping hs hand away.

"Shut the hell up, James!" She yelled and stood up.

"Andy don't do it!"

"Piss off," she said to him as she walked toward the death eaters. "_Avada Keda –"_

But before she could get the words out another death eater form behind her fired another curse at her. James watched helplessly as a gash appeared in Andy's back tearing her shirt and blood began pouring out. James looked around desperately for his wand, wondering where it could have possibly have gone too.

"Oh God, Andy," he said giving up on the quick search for his wand and crawled over to her. "Oh Merlin..." He breathed as he saw the pool of blood surround her. "No, no, no, no..." He said.

"J – Ja – James..." She whispered and looked up at him with wide eyes. "I – I can can't f – feel any – anything."

He had no idea what to do, his wand was lost and even if he did find it he doubted he could stop the bleeding or close the gash. Death eaters had a way of causing irreversible harm. "S'okay, Andy... it's all gonna be okay..." He said as tears began to form in his eyes and he grabbed her shaking hand.

"D – dun lie t' me, Jam – James... Yer na' good a' i'." She began slurring her words and gave him a small smile.

"No, you really are, it's all gonna be okay."

"Can ya, d' me a fav'r." She asked and reluctantly James nodded. "Can ya... 'ell Remy... tha' I luv 'im...?"

Now he was crying and he nodded his head. "Yeah... yeah I will..."

"I g'ess it's time t' g' see m' daddy..." She breathed and then closed her eyes.

James felt it as her hand lost its grip and her chest stopped rising.

"No..." James said and looked around. "Oh God no, no, no, no, no..." he said and sat back looking at the dead bodies of two of his friends. "Oh... no how could this happen no..." He kept saying to himself and he sat there on the ground with his head buried in his knees crying.

"Oh get up!" he heard and looked up to see Heather standing above him, looking down he saw her body still on the ground and then he looked back. "Wha – what...?"

"I said get up, are you deaf?" She said again with her classic Heather attitude.

"Are you dead?"

"Oh no, see that body there isn't me it's my mysterious identical twin, of course I'm freakin' dead you idiot!"

Now that James looked again he saw that she was slightly transparent and floating a little off the ground. "How are you here...?"

"Well you see I didn't exactly go to the pretty light yet, and now I get why, I gotta get your lazy ass up and do something!" She cried.

"You're dead Andy's dead..."

Heather nodded. "Yeah... I know speaking of her I pretty sure she should be here any second. I know as a fact she didn't find that light either."

"How do you know?" He asked.

"I'm dead, I know everything."

Just as she said that a figure materialized next to her, it was Andy she was floating and sitting in the air Indian style. She too was slightly transparent and she was looking around with a confused face, James noticed that he could see the dried blood on the sides of her shirt and on the sides of her arms from the large gash on her back.

She looked around and spotted Heather floating next to her. "You're dead already?! Man, you really suck at this!" She laughed.

Heather looked at her. "You're dead too."

Andy looked hurt and then looked down. "Well you don't have to rub it in... Hey! Besides I might not be dead! I could just be passed out and this is all some sort of astral projection thingy! There are plenty of cases or medi witches fixing wounds and stuff after the person was presumed dead and reviving them!"

"No... There aren't."

"Shut up." Andy said crossing her arms across her chest and floating upside down.

"But anyway we're here to say don't give up." Heather said. "Lily still needs you, she's over there with Remus now, not far away. She needs you, the marauders need you. Just because we're not here does not mean your life should stop being lived."

James shook his head. "But I watched you die... I saw what happened and I didn't do anything."

"What the hell could you have done?" Andy asked now right side up. "You're unarmed and you were surrounded by like fifty three billion death eaters. It wasn't your fault, there was nothin' ya could of done, trust me, I went over all the possibilities on how this could have been your fault but it wasn't. I was bein' stupid and I wanted revenge and I put myself in a position to die, it was all me."

"And I pushed you down, right after you were hit on the head. You couldn't get back up even if you wanted to. You were to weak from the blow, and besides you didn't jump down on your own accord. It was all me, you did nothing." Heather said with a small smile.

James couldn't figure this out, if he was hallucinating, if this was really happening and they just came back as ghosts or if he was dying and this was just him going crazy. But whatever was going on he might as well just go with it. "Yeah..." He said and looked down.

"Now, go and find Lily, go give her a hug and kiss her and crap." Andy said.

"Might not have too find her." Heather grinned and nodded behind James, a red head was running up to him with red locks of hair bouncing around her shoulders. Behind her was Remus, Sirius, Peter and Laura all looking worried and on the verge of tears when they saw the scene before them.

"Remember to tell him I love him." Andy said and James looked back to the two floated figures in front of him before they faded away.

"Oh my God James..." Lily said as she collapsed next to James and hugged crying harder then she ever had in her life.

Remus stared at the body of her girlfriend and started to cry his knees gave out and he fell to the ground in front of Andy. His fall agitated the deep wound in his stomach making more blood come out, but he couldn't feel it now. Sirius went down too and hugged him. Laura had uncontrollable tears and she was making all sorts of noises as she cried and sniffed. She bent down to them and hugged all four of them an arm around each group pulling them together, Peter did likewise.

The group of now six cried for hours on end, they didn't even realize it when the other order members took them back to the safe house. Upon realizing that their wounds were fairly bad they were taken to St. Mungos but none of them cared at the moment. They all had to be put under so the medi-witches could look them over individually without them holding onto each other.

That night they won the battle but they lost something that they could never get back.

Lisa: (moment of silence)


	17. What's Real Anymore?

Lisa: I am so ready to see OotP, and I am even more ready to read DH. I am so ready I'm writing HP fics like THAT!

Heather: I know...

Lisa: But anyway I must say, whew, I did not get as many flames as I was expecting jeez, but then again I'm typin' this like two or three days after I posted the chap.

Heather: I'm sad! You killed me!

Lisa: (shrug)

Heather: Whore.

Lisa: Slut.

Heather: Bitch.

Lisa: Sentimental Polyester Monkey.

Heather: ...

Lisa: ... yeah... you know what I'm sayin'...

What's Real Anymore?

James couldn't feel much, but he knew he was lying in a soft bed. He heard voices around him they were female and they all sounded worried. Who were they though? Was it Lily or Laura? It couldn't be Andy or Heather they... they were... he couldn't bring himself to think it. He wanted to open his eyes and see who these people were but he felt too tired and weak, like he as hit by one thousand bricks but then again he probably was. So he just listened as closely to the conversation as he could.

"Do you think he's going to be okay?" Asked the first woman, she sounded on the verge of tears.

"I'm sure he'll be fine, he pulls though, he always does." Said the second girl in a comforting tone, he heard footsteps accompanied with the talking, they sounded like they were coming closer.

The first girl began crying and he heard another set of footprints walk over. "Oh c'mon, it'll be fine, he ain't one to give up, you know that." Said a third.

"Merlin, look at me, here I am crying my eyes out when the guys are just as bad." She said sniffing.

"No, they're fine." A door closed and another girl walked in. "Peter's up and walking around he just had a few scratches, Sirius is up and so is Remus, they woke up just a few minutes ago. Both stable they're going to get moved into this room ASAP. But I'm kind of worried about you guys though. How'd you get out of your bed? You shouldn't be allowed to yet."

"Snuck out," said a voice that James placed as the second girl. "Besides I'm fine, my arms are the ones hurt not my legs."

"You should be sleeping though." Said the first.

"Like you shouldn't, your beds even in the room now get in it!" The girl that just walked in said.

"Laura's right, Lils, ya got pretty banged up." Said the third, James could place the voice but it couldn't be...

"But what about you?"

"What about me? I'm fine. Hit to the head that's it." The third said.

"Come on Andy... you know its worse then that." The second said.

"Shut up, Heather..."

James then lost his consciousness once again and fell into the oblivion of blackness. When he gained his consciousness once more things were different there were no girls talking around his bed. There was only silence which gave him no reason to open his eyes again until a soft rustle was heard next to his bed. He opened his eyes slowly letting them adjust to the sunned light before turning his head to find a familiar black haired boy next to him.

"Sirius?" He asked in a voice he hardly recognized as his own.

Sirius turned his head around and gave him a weak smile, his dark eyes were dull and his face was covered in bruises. "Hey, Prongs, you woke up finally." He joked but James could tell his heart was not in it.

"So, where's Remus, Pads? I thought you guys were both coming in here." He said referring to the eaves dropping he did earlier.

"What? No, Remus is in another care unit for constant watch... He's not doing so hot." Sirius replied sadly.

"I thought he just woke up..."

"No... He's bad; they say he might not make it, the gash on his stomach was worse then we thought..."

James then took a deep breath as he realized what happened before must have just been a dream. "So then the girls really are..." He couldn't say it.

"Yeah, they are James." Sirius said hardly above a whisper, he took a deep breath and looked down, reaching up to rub his head he watched out of his eye regret wash over James's face. "Hey, mate, you didn't do anything, it wasn't your fault, you know that right?" He asked looking back up trying to gain his composure.

"I know... they told me."

"What?"

"Nothing, so where're Lily and Laura?"

"Lily is sleeping in her room with Laura, I'm supposed to wake her the second you get up but I can't exactly get up at the moment." Sirius managed another soft humorless chuckle.

"Why? You're legs broken or something? Can't they heal that real fast?" James asked.

"N – no, James... You, you know what happened. When you were awake you saw them explain it to me." Sirius stuttered confused.

"Explain it again please."

"When we were fighting I was hit by a curse, it damaged my legs. When we reached St. Mungos yesterday the curse started to take effect, it was cast wrong so it took longer to work. But my legs... James... they got infected too quickly before they knew what was wrong... I collapsed when I was standing in the waiting room they rushed me too a room but it was too late... James they amputated them... there was nothing they could do before it spread to my whole body, and it would have within minutes... there is no spell that could fix it before it spread..." Sirius said looking down.

James was shocked he looked down and saw that indeed where Sirius's legs should have been there was a flat bed. "Oh my God... Oh man, Sirius I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Sirius said flatly. "Wasn't your fault."

"So... Did... did anyone else... ya know... d – die?"

"A few other order members yeah, and a good group of muggles."

James buried his head in his pulled up knees, how could all this be happening. Less then three days ago they were all having fun and they were all together and in one horrible night it was all taken away. Andy and Heather were dead, Remus was pretty much on his death bed, Sirius lost his legs and the rest he had no idea...

"How could this be happening?" he said.

"Dumbledore said it was the biggest attack he had ever seen by Voldemort. More death eaters arrived then we thought; there was no way of knowing what could have happened." Sirius said looking down at the place starting a little above the knees where his legs should be.

"I want to see everybody." James said sadly.

"Sorry, not gonna happen for at least another day." Sirius said. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm pumped full of all sorts of potions, I need some shut eye. Sorry to go to sleep so soon."

"Don't be, go and sleep. You need a break."

"Thanks mate." Sirius breathed right before he shut his eyes and he was sleeping peacefully.

James watched him as he slept for a couple minutes before he looked back up and almost yelled as he saw the two familiar figures floating above him. "Jeez! Don't scare me like that! I could have woken Sirius up."

"Ha, please, he's out cold." Heather said smirking.

"Why are you here?" James asked desperately.

"To haunt your ass." Andy said still sitting with her legs folded.

"How come you're not coming when Sirius is up, I'm sure he'd _love_ to see you." James said rubbing his head which was beginning to hurt.

"Because Sirius isn't going crazy, you are! You're mad as a hatter now!" Andy replied brightly.

"Besides, Sirius is good or you know, as good as he could possibly get at the moment being kind of missing legs and all but you're not doing so hot." Heather said, "And we're a little worried."

"I'm fine, why are you two so convinced I'm not? Look, you could be doing so many better things, Andy you could be with Remus now, Heather you could haunt some old Victorian house with little children in it and scare the crap out of them." He said.

"Oh I am, that's on my list to do after this." She said.

"And James I hate to say it but I won't have to go and visit Remus, not only is he unconscious, but I'll be seeing him up here real soon." Andy said looking down and playing with her pants.

"No, no he's not gonna... no." James said feeling the tears start to come again. "He's survived worse; he can't go, not yet."

"I'm sorry, James, but he's not doing well. As much as I wish for him to live out his life and be happy…he can't, he's going to die." Andy said her voice getting low and rough.

"This isn't happening." James said and put his head down again.

"I know it's hard but James, you can live through this. You can't give up." Heather said.

"So that's why you're here? To tell me not to give up when all is lost?"

"Pretty much." Heather replied leaning back into the air.

James silently started to cry as he kept his head in his knees and the two girls exchanged looks. They wished they could go over and touch him, comfort him but not being corporeal had disadvantages. They exchanged looks one last time before fading away into nothing as James kept his head down and eyes closed.

When he was done he looked up and saw that they were gone, he silently cursed to himself. Pushing the blankets away he swung his legs out of the bed. Why was it that everyone seemed to be injured but him? He seemed fine, except for a pounding headache.

His bare feet hit the cold hard white floor of the hospital room and he forced himself up, making muscles work that were far form ready yet. He moaned as he pushed himself up and began walking out of the room. He pushed the door open and ignored all the medi-witches and wizards as they rushed past him to care for other patients.

He had no idea where anyone was so he grabbed the arm of a passing wizard in scrubs. "Excuse me, could you tell me the rooms of Lily Evans or Remus Lupin? Peter Pettigrew, maybe? Or Laura Avalon?"

"I'm sorry, Sir, I can't tell you that informa –"

"My name is James Potter, I came in with them. See?" James said holding up his wrist to show the man his hospital bracelet with his name on it.

"Mr. Potter, I don't think you should be out of bed."

"Well I'm not going back until I see my friends, now what rooms are they in?"

The man sighed. "They could fire me if they knew I told you this but, Ms. Evans is in room 267 with Ms. Avalon, Mr. Pettigrew is next door in room 268 and Mr. Lupin is one floor up in room 309."

"Thank you, really." James said and rushed past him looking at the room numbers. He passed room after room, why did they have to spread them all so far apart? 265, 266... Finally 267. He looked through the small window and then opened the door slowly and quietly. He looked down at the two girls and bit his bottom lip.

Lily had a bandage around her head and one around her arm. That was the extent of the damage he saw on her physically. Laura had a couple small cuts on her face, her leg was elevated and her eye was black and blue, they didn't look too bad. Probably just sleeping off some potions at the moment. He didn't want to disturb them so he bent down over Lily and lightly gave her a kiss before whispering 'I love you' and leaving the room shutting the door behind him quietly.

He walked to the next room where Peter was and looked inside, he appeared to be awake. James opened the door, and got a better look at him. He was playing with the fraying edge of the starched white sheet on his bed. One hand, James noticed was heavily bandaged and so was part of that arm.

"Peter?" He asked quietly not to startle the young man in the bed.

"James! How are you? Is Sirius alright? Do you know where Remus is? Or what about the girls are they okay? They won't tell me anything!" Peter exclaimed sitting up in the bed.

"Whoa, whoa slow down, Wormtail. I'm fine, Sirius on the other hand... he uh, he lost both his legs..." James said and Peter gasped but before he could say anything back James continued on. "I just saw Lily and Laura... they're sleeping so I wasn't able to talk to them about... you know... about... it." James said whipping his eyes as he felt tears well up in them.

Peter looked down. "I can't believe it... I just can't, of all of us... them? I could expect them... last... you know?" He asked.

"I know what you mean, Pete. You kinda get that invincible feeling, they can't die, we can't die, we're too young... it doesn't happen to people like us." James said sitting down on the chair next to the bed.

"But it does, we put ourselves out there to try and help other people but... we should have expected deaths... we should have expected someone had a chance of dying..."

"We did help, we saved that whole town, a lot of them may have died but we saved several dozen of them. They died for a good reason..." James looked up as tears started falling down his cheeks. "Oh man... this isn't happening."

"But it is... and I don't know how to deal." Peter said.

"Me neither." James said and the two old friends sat in silence for the remainder of James's visit before he said he had to go find Remus before they found out he was missing fro his room and came looking for them.

"Bye James." Peter said as James started to leave. "If he's conscious give him my best."

"I will." James said and started to leave. He was pretty sure that Remus wouldn't be conscious though.

He walked over to the elevator and pushed the button, it opened right away and he met with a healer. Luckily it wasn't one assigned to James so he didn't know him and make him go back to his room. James walked past the healer as he entered the elevator and pushed the button for one floor up. It took only seconds to arrive there before the doors opened, only visitors were walking in.

The first room he saw was room 190, so he wasn't too far away. He walked down the hall and saw the sign that said room's 300 – 320 with an arrow pointing down another hall. He walked won it and watched as the numbers next to the doors rose.

306

307

308

310

Wait... James turned around and saw as the rooms skipped number 309, it just had to be his friends room didn't it? He looked around and walked down the hall further, but he could find it, he went back and looked around some more, he finally found it on the opposite side of the hall. Now, why was it there? That didn't make sense. He walked over to it and looked in, no healers, thank Merlin.

He reached down for the knob and opened it slowly, he took an intake of breath as he saw his friend. He was lying on the bed. No visible injuries he guess that the gash on his stomach was being covered by the blanket, the worst he saw was a few bruises on his face.

James walked over and sat down on the chair, Remus looked terrible. He had dark circles under his eyes, not only from a bruise, his face was pale and he was sweating. His breathing was sharp and short, James looked around, Remus was not in a good room, it was of course up to standards but it wasn't nearly as good as his room, or the girls or Peters. James had a sinking feeling why, they must have known Remus was a werewolf.

He cursed under his breath at the prejudices people held toward them. It wasn't there fault; they didn't ask for it, they weren't bad people! Well some were but they couldn't generalize a while group of people for the acts of one person!

"James..." Said a weak voice and he looked down to see Remus lying there.

"Remus, your up, you shouldn't be, why are you up?" James asked frantically.

Remus smiled slightly but kept his eyes closed and took a deep breath before he spoke. "It was always hard to sleep with you stomping around, even in school. I remember when you had the invisibility cloak on you'd scare the crap outta me... thought we had our own ghost in the dorm." He said in a hoarse, slow voice.

"You can't be up; you should be sleeping, resting so you can get all better." James said.

"James, you know as well as I... I'm not getting better; lucky for me I have a very rude and blunt healer. He made it clear he doesn't give two shits about me..." Remus sighed leaning his head to the side.

"Why, because of what you..." Remus nodded slightly. "How did they find out?"

"It's on my record, Prongs, and besides with my body being weak and all... I'm sure you noticed..."

James furrowed his brow and then it clicked, he had always been so used to looking past Remus when he got a little wolfy he never noticed that now his canines were sharper and when he cracked open his eyes they were yellow and animalistic.

"Kinda scares people..." Remus sighed and he closed his eyes again.

"But no... no, Moony... you're gonna pull through, you can't die on me." James said feeling himself start to cry again.

"Oh James, what kind of life could I live anyway? I'm a werewolf; I've been fired and out of work my whole life... I've always been scared and desperate for everything... "

"No, Remus shut the hell up right now, so what? You've just got a little furry problem, that's all, no big deal."

Remus laughed dryly. "I know, James, I know..."

"So do you want to know about everyone else...?"

"What's the point? James, I'm dying, I'm on my bloody death bed... I won't make it... and when I die I'll know how everyone is and I'll be with Andy forever and it'll all be fine." Remus smiled weakly.

"Is that why you want to die? To see Andy?"

"I don't want to die, James, but I do want to see her... I love her Prongs, as much as you love Lily... and I don't think I could live a life without her." He said.

"She loves you too, you know."

"I know she does," Remus said. "And I can't wait to see her again, I'll bet her and Heather are playing poker in heaven and drinking beer."

"Is that allowed in heaven?"

"Probably not but they'll find a way to sneak it in."

James smiled just as the door opened and a man walked in, he looked gruff and did not have a clean shave. "What are you doing in here?" he asked harshly.

"I'm visiting, Remus." James said smugly.

"Why?" The man asked pushing James out of the way so he could check on Remus, James assumed this must have been the healer assigned to Remus.

"Because he's my friend and I have to make sure he's okay."

The man scoffed and turned around to face James. "Go back to your room, boy, you don't look like you should be up and I don't need two deaths on my shoulders."

James knew there was nothing he could do and he didn't want to cause a scene in Remus's room. "Okay... bye Remus... get better."

Remus smirked and cracked his eyes open revealing the yellow shinning eyes. "You know I won't, Prongs, goodbye." He breathed.

James nodded his bottom lip quivering and his vision blurring. "Yeah..."

"Don't cry James this isn't a final goodbye, now go see Lily, I'm sure she misses you."

"I will... I love you, Moony." James said as he opened the door behind his back.

"I love you too, Prongs, see you soon." Remus said closing his eyes.

James left the room at that moment and leaning his back up against it feeling hot tears run down his cheeks. He cried all the way back to his room, he didn't even bother stopping by to see Laura or Lily, he could let them see him like this. When he walked in the room he saw Sirius was still sleeping peacefully, when he looked down to his friends legs he started to cry harder. Noting was going right. This should be the best time of their lives and now it just all around sucked.

He cried himself to sleep that night that was when it happened again. He was sleeping in his bed when he heard voices, he couldn't open his yes, couldn't move at all, so he just listened. They weren't all girl voices this time.

"Not awake yet?" Asked a voice walking into the room that James recognized right away as Sirius, but wait the voice was accompanied by footsteps, which meant he was walking in.

"No, not yet, the healers are getting worried too." Said another male voice which was defiantly Remus, how could he be up? He could hardly open his eyes last time James saw him so he couldn't possibly be up walking around. "They said he should be up by now. How's Lily fairing?"

"We sent her home, said we'd keep and eye on him tonight, she's gotten zero sleep since the battle, same with Mrs. Potter we sent her back to the hotel, Mr. Potter's in the cafeteria getting some coffee though." A woman said which sounded like Laura.

"How's your stomach, Rem? You just get released?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, just a few minutes ago, ya know some of the people in this hospital can be real pricks." Remus complained.

"They bugged ya 'bout Mr. Glowly eyes?" An accented voice that could only belong to Andy said.

"And Mr. Pointy teeth and nails." Remus confirmed.

"Aw, s'okay they bugged me too." Andy said. "Since all my wounds were minor I only got minor wolfy."

"Yeah well I got full blown wolfy." Remus said.

"Well now you're out and fine, no more hospital pricks to bug you anymore." Another girl that sounded like Heather said. "How about you, Sirius?"

"Legs are still sore, healer said they'd get better in a couple days but in the mean time I have to walk around on these stupid muggle things. I look like an idiot." Sirius said.

"Crutches." He heard Laura inform.

"Sirius, you don't need the crutches to look like an idiot." Heather said and the dream sequence faded away into sleep.

Watching James rest peacefully were two transparent spirits, or ghosts or which ever you preferred to call them. They both had sad expressions as they realized the extent of Sirius's injury and the toll everything was having on James. They had just saw Lily and Laura, both were up and talking, both teary eyed about all that was happening. It bought down the moods of the two perky ghosts exponentially. Then they visited Peter, he was awake but he couldn't see them, and finally Remus. They only stayed for a moment, they both knew what would happen.

The two girls gave one another looks before turning their heads back down and looking at the sad sight before them. Something caught Heather's eye and she looked up, Andy still had hers down. Heather nudged her arm and she looked up as well.

Andy gave a small, sad smile. "Hey, baby." She said and floated over to the figure that just entered, through the wall.

"Hello, love." Said a familiar tawny haired man who ran his hand through his hair out of old habit.

Lisa: Whoa this was long, but it was good. I'm assuming...

Heather: It was.

Lisa: Well of course you have to say that.

Heather: No, I could be mean.

Lisa: No, you can't... you wouldn't let yourself. But anyway, c'mon guys review. I know you read it; I see the hits for this story and its pretty darn good so c'mon send the reviews in.


	18. Remember When

Lisa: Well I won't spoil anything but in my opinion OotP was a disappointment. I won't go into details but if you saw it I think you catch my drift. I'll just say one thing, there was a severe, horrible, scary, frightening lack of Remus, and being a Remus obsessive freak I was sad.

Heather: So that means your not going to rant?

Lisa: Yes, if anyone cares to rant with me send me a message requesting my myspace or my AIM and I'll give it to you.

Heather: She ranted to me for the longest time after the movie... and she just ate a whole bag of skittles which makes her sooo hyper.

Lisa: Yes, I was skipping, it was my Luna Lovegood skip. I'm just a giddy person.

Heather: It's frightening...

Lisa: Hehe, yes, now everyone enjoy the chapter!

Remember When

James moaned as he began to wake up, he tried opening his eyes only to be faced with the bright whiteness of the room that surrounded him. He squinted and sat up making his head more but he ignored it, as his eyes adjusted to the light he saw that the bed next to him was empty. Sirius couldn't have been released yet, if James wasn't released then he certainly wasn't, and the bed was unmade and there was get well soon cards on the table.

Where could he have gone? James didn't want to sound mean but with no legs how could he have gone, really... Lucky for him he didn't have to worry long became in the door opened and James looked over to see Sirius entering the room, he wore paper like hospital clothes and his pants were cut off and tied at the ends. Something tore his heart to see his best friend and tough guy bound to a wheel chair. It wasn't a muggle one, it was magical. Sirius didn't need to do anything to make it move, the wheels moved on their own.

James looked at Sirius who looked as though he had been crying, his bottom lip was quivering and his eyes were red and puffy. "Sirius, what's wrong... what happened..."

"James... it's... it's..." Sirius couldn't get the words out. He went over to his bed and hoisted himself up in it and pushed the chair away. "Um... James... It's Remus. He uh, James he died in his sleep a couple hours ago, I... I would have woken you but with your head injury... they, uh, they wouldn't let me..." Sirius said as he began crying again. "Oh my God James, Moony's dead, he's gone."

James looked down and chocked as tears started to pour out of his eyes. He got up out of his bed and walked over to Sirius's bed and wrapped him in a hug.

They remained silent and mourned for hours, they parted after a while and James went back to his bed just to think, Sirius said he had to leave and get some fresh air, although James didn't know where exactly he could get some. He wasn't crying anymore but he had a look of pure torture and sadness on his face. He was thinking a lot, about the past, about their times in Hogwarts, where all seven of them would cause chaos. He gave a small smile when he thought about all the times Remus was torn between his prefect duties and causing mischief, the mischievous side of him usually won. James's smile faded though when he thought about some of the things he's done that he wasn't proud of now, then he was a big shot and Remus would never stop him. He knew why too, Remus was always scared of telling them off, even now sometimes.

When he thought about their summers together that was when it hit him. Where were their parents? James sat up a little and took a deep breath to clear his nose. He hasn't seen his mother or father, Sirius's family he understood but what about Andromeda and Nymph? They should come, and Remus's mother and his sister. Andy's family too, she may have been gone but he would think they would still come by, same went for Heather. No one was here, no friends and no family.

"Are ya thinkin'?"

He looked up to see Heather and Andy floating at the foot of his bed, but now they were accompanied by someone else. Remus. He still looked like he did when James saw him last, he had on the paper like pants and top that he wore in the hospital, he still looked feral and his eyes had huge dark circles under his eyes, and his face was a sickly pale.

"Remus?" he whispered.

"Yeah, it's me." Remus said. "Told you I'd see you soon didn't I?"

"You're a ghost too?"

"I guess so," Remus said and thought for a moment. "Not entirely sure what I am, and they don't know either so don't bother asking."

"Why are you...?"

"We answered that!" Andy exclaimed.

"Andy, please, Jamie I'm here because you're not doing to well and you know you're not." Remus replied calmly.

"Well how the bloody hell am I supposed to act!" He burst out. "My best friend is dead! All my friends are dying around me! And those who aren't are all injured bad! I mean look at Sirius, he lost his legs, everything's just... just... not right..." James trailed off.

"I know James, but you knew, you knew I was going to die, you knew it, I told you, you just have to accept it. Get past our deaths and remember the good times." Remus said.

"I have gotten past it." James shot back.

"No, you haven't." Heather said. "If you had gotten past it Andy would be blood free. But look at her." Andy turned around and looked at her back. The large tear in her shirt was still there with the gory gash and blood still soaked her back and sleeves. "She looks exactly the same as when she died. So does Remus, lucky for me Avada Kedavra killed me, no ick associated with that."

"Yeah, you think I enjoy being feral? No." He drawled out.

"Okay..." James said. "Um... so you're saying..."

"We're saying you just goin' crazier." Andy said.

"We're saying you have to get past this thing or you never will and we'll just stick around like this forever." Remus said. "And the longer we stay like this the longer you won't get over it."

"But I don't know if I can." James said sadly and he looked down.

"Yes, you can." Andy said in a very gentle voice unlike her usual one.

"Don't think about our deaths, think about our adventures on the full moon, think of all the times we pranked Snape or you know what, think of the bloody musical spell Laura placed." Remus said and Andy shuddered.

"Oh God, that sucked." Andy said and hung her head.

"Just think of the good times, don't think of us being gone, think of us on temporary leave. And besides, this isn't the last time we'll meet." Remus said and the three faded away in the air as Sirius wheeled back in the room.

"Hey, what're looking at, Prongs?" He said in a voice that was low and quiet.

"Nothing... nothing at all..." James said and leaned back in the bed. "Just thinking... is all."

"Yeah, me too." Sirius said.

"It'll all be okay, mate." James said clearly seeing that Sirius was depressed.

"No, it won't... It's all falling apart James, our group had gone from eight to five in one day... or four and three quarters... I can't really be considered one whole anymore." He said looking down at his missing legs.

"Yes, Sirius, you are. You're Sirius bloody Black, nothing can stop you. You're still my best friend. Still the best wizard I have ever seen, and that's including Dumbledore."

"What can I do though? I can't be an auror now." Sirius said.

"Yes you can, you can still do everything you wanted, don't let something like this stop you."

"I'm not, I'm already stopped. I slowed down yesterday, when the girls died, and I stopped two hours ago when Remus... when Remus died." Sirius said and pulled himself onto the bed.

"Sirius, you can't give up, you just can't. What about us? What about me and Peter? We still have to live on as the Marauders, what about Laura and Lily? They need us now more then ever, they're the remaining Marauderetts." James said. "We need to stick together."

"How are you so calm James? We lost our brother, the most responsible and innocent one of us, what did he ever do to disserve this?"

"Nothing, but don't think about the way he died or his death. I know he doesn't think about any of it. Sirius, he knew he was going to die. I went and I saw him. He told me he knew he was going to die. He didn't want us to feel sad for him, he knew he wasn't going to last. Besides, he was devastated about Andy. You know he was... she was his world. Now they're together."

Sirius looked over to him. "If I'm not supposed to think of their deaths... then what am I supposed to think about...?"

"The happy days!" James exclaimed. "All the days we spent in Hogwarts, in Hogsmead, the days in the shrieking shack, our summers at the beach. Sirius do you remember that one summer, we went to the beach with my parents. We punched out those boys who were giving us a hard time with the girls?"

Sirius nodded his head and gave him a small smile. "Andy taught us how to go body surfing... I remember I got such a bad burn on my stomach because I crashed in the sand... Your mum had to give me a potion to fix it." Sirius gave a small chuckle. "That was between our second and third year... right?"

"Yeah, it was." James smiled. "I tried to teach you how to surf."

"Can honestly say I still don't get it." Sirius smiled back. "Remember when we found out our patronus's were? We learned the patronus charm so we could get an idea of what our animagus's would be."

"And we made the potion, we transformed the first time, we defiantly got better at that didn't we?" James asked laughing and remembering the comments on what he looked like as he changed into a stag that first time. "No more nasty half human half animal things, eh?" James said and then something hit him. "Sirius, change into Padfoot."

"What? Why?" Sirius asked.

"Just do it." James insisted.

"Okay, but you gotta watch the door, this is St. Mungo's and I'm on near constant watch over here." Sirius said and James nodded waving it away and he crawled over to the edge of his bed t watch the door.

"No one's anywhere near the door, so unless Moody comes by and looks through the wall with that creepy eye of his we're good to go." James said giving Sirius the thumbs up.

Sirius changed on the bed and within two second a large black dog was in his place. James looked away from the door and studied the dog for several seconds. Sirius tried to move but he was missing his back legs and couldn't walk. He laid down on the bed and whined he now figured out what James was trying to do.

"Its okay, Pads," James said and walked over to the bed, now abandoning the door.

The dog whined again and rolled over onto his side.

"Here, I'll change too, just like old times then." James said and within seconds a large proud stag was standing next to the bed.

The two animals played near the bed, Sirius of course never leaving but he nipped at James and make small barking noises as not to alert anyone else. They had no idea how long they played around for but at one point they were so busy playing they began to ignore the door. While they played they failed to notice the door knob turn and they only noticed it when it opened.

James froze like a deer, or stag rather, in the headlights. Sirius backed up and bared his teeth slightly, if they were actually thinking they would have immediately changed back to human but they were going on pure instinct. Lucky for them, the ones who entered were no threat.

"Oh honestly." Lily said as she shut the door behind her, Laura and Peter quickly. "You're in a highly populated building, are you that stupid?" She asked and sat on James's bed.

The two boys bowed their heads down and changed back. "Sorry Lily, we were just trying to have some fun. Hard to come by now days, you know." He said.

Her face softened and she looked at both of them with sympathy. "How are you doing? Are you both okay?"

Before Sirius could answer with 'yes' James beat him to it. "No," he said. "We're not, but I know that Rem wouldn't want us mourning and crying for ever, he would want us to have fun." James said holding back more tears that threatened to run down his face. "But what about you? Are you two okay?"

"As good as we could be." Laura said sitting down on a chair between the two beds. "I can't really say we're fine."

"But we're coping, we just came by for a few minutes, they won't let us stay much longer that that." Lily said.

There was a silence for several minutes, non of them had had such an uncomfortable silence between them. Normally one of the others would do something, they would talk about their next full moon adventure, Andy and Remus would start snogging, Heather would insult Sirius and they would begin to argue but now... nothing was happening. They could start a Quidditch conversation but now their team was cut short, they were missing a beater and a keeper. They didn't have a complete team without them.

"You remember when we found the last secret passage to Zonkos?" James said suddenly.

"Yeah," Peter said nodding. "We were running from – "

"Peeves." Sirius said. "It was after that we made the Marauders Map, took forever to do. What about that race, we always snuck to see if our sixth year and fifth. James won."

"It was fixed." Lily said. "There were seekers in that race there was no way a chaser could have won."

"I'm as good as any seeker out there; you remember that snitch I nicked fifth year?"

"Oh yes we all remember that bloody thing." Laura grinned.

The group laughed and reminisced for a few more minutes before a healer walked in and ushered the ladies and Peter back to their rooms, promising that he would try and get them all in a room together. They all said their goodbyes and walked out, the healer told to try and get some sleep, it was getting late.

The boys nodded and drank the dreamless sleep potion the healer left behind. In minutes they were asleep for the night.

"James... please... please, wake up..." He heard the familiar voice of Lily saying. "I don't know what I'd do if you were to die on me..." She sounded like she had been crying. "Please, just wake up for me... just for a few seconds just to show me you're still in there... Oh Merlin, I don't even know if you can hear me... Can you...?" She asked

James wanted to open his eyes and tell her he could hear her, every word but he couldn't. He couldn't move at all, he couldn't talk, just like all the other times this had happened, he could only hear.

"Oh of course you can't," she sighed. "James... you just have to wake up. I love you so much, just please wake up. If you don't wake up for me then wake up for Sirius, Remus, Peter, your parents, anyone I don't care just wake up." He heard her said and he noticed he now began hearing sniffling noises. She was crying.

Her sobs faded away into silence once again as he was pulled out of the dream like state and he woke up confused. How could he have dreamt that? He had drunk a dreamless sleep potion. He had used them before they were very effective. Before he could linger on this subject longer he noticed he wasn't alone in the room and it wasn't just the still sleeping Sirius next to him.

Looking up he saw the thee ghosting floating as always at the foot of his bed. When they entered it seemed that the room became brighter on his side but it remained dark on Sirius's side. James studied the three for a moment, they looked different and then he realized it.

Rather then they all looking how they had when they died they were in Hogwarts uniforms. They al looked like they had in Hogwarts, maybe sixth year? James guessed, they looked just like he remembered, Remus had the uniform on properly, expect for the untucked shirt under the vest, his slacks were ironed, his tie was the right length. Andy and Heather on the other hand wore they uniforms sloppily more like James and Sirius wore theirs.

The only thing in James's opinion that was right was the high gray socks, marry jane styled shoes and skirt. Their ties were off, shirts untucked... James had to smile at the image. They all looked like they were sitting under the big tree near the lake, even their clothes were spread out around them in the air where they sat.

"James you rock." Andy spoke first. "Thanks really, I was getting pissed at the stuff I Had on".

"You're doing good." Remus said smiling. "You're remembering us the way we should be remembered." He picked up a broom from behind him. It was his broom, it looked newer then it did now, just a couple years old. "Thinking of Quidditch?" He asked as Andy pulled a bludger bat out from behind her and Heather a Gryffindor sign.

"Always am." James replied with a faint smile and then noticed between them lay a piece of blank parchment James knew well. "What are you doing with the map?"

"The way you remember us, we're in Hogwarts," Remus said. "We're the appearing the way you want to see us, and a Marauder needs his map."

"Besides maybe we'll head over to Hogwarts," Heather said with a grin. "We could pull some ghost pranks."

"Let's see who's in." Remus said and tapped the map with a wand he took out of his back pocket. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He said and words began appearing on the cover. He opened it and looked around. "Says here Nymph is in her common room." He said and pointed to the Hufflepuff common room where a set of foot prints was staying still and a tag next to it saying Nymphadora Tonks. Maybe we should pay her a visit."

"Looks like Samantha's in, remember her, she must be in seventh or sixth year. She always followed Candi around." Andy said looking at the map Remus was holding.

"I remember that bitch," Heather said. "Always hung around Candi, then Bellatrix, then Narssicia, then Candi, then Bellatrix, then Narssicia pick a bloody group for cripes sake."

"Remember when we threw Bellatrix in the lake?" Andy asked.

"Oh yeah, that was fun." Heather laughed.

"Way I remember it you two went in as well." James smirked at them.

"Yes but we didn't mind getting a little wet." Heather said.

"Yes you did you were both snapping at everyone for the rest of the day." Remus said lowering the map.

"Shut up." Andy said and pushed the back of his head making hid hair fall in his eyes.

Remus smiled and ran his hand through his hair to free his line of vision of it. "Well Prongs, lovely chatting with you but we gotta go."

"Why?" James asked, he didn't want them to leave, it was like just talking to them, like they were alive again.

"We can't hang around forever, but we'll be back." Heather said.

"See you, mate." Remus said as they stood up, straightening their uniforms and as they began walking away they faded completely away.

James looked at the spot where they left and all the light in the room went away. It was once again dark as it should have been in the middle of the night. He looked over to see Sirius still fast asleep, he laid his head down and closed his eyes. Now realizing just how tired he was and he fell back asleep.

Lisa: All those memories they were talking about were actual chapters in 'From Beginning to End' so if you care to look back and reread them feel free.

Heather: All of them funny, good chapters.

Lisa: I was picking chapters at random from that story too do and reading those it was so weird. Still at Hogwarts... always worrying about when to have exams and homework moments... now I don't have to worry about it!

Heather: Anyway, everyone review and all that good stuuf it would make Lisa happy and when she's happy she's giddy and well... when she's giddy she frightens me but when she's giddy she writes more.

Lisa: So very true. By the way guys now that I finished all my other soties I've been workin on this one a lot. So that explains my quick updates and I'm already workin on the next chap.


	19. Awakening

Lisa: Back for another installment of this amazing story.

Heather: And I'm back for pointless two worded comments.

Lisa: That was way more then two words.

Heather: How do you now?

Lisa: Because I can count... can you?

Heather: ... LOOK OUT! IT'S THE DARK LORD MOLDYBUTT!!

Lisa: (gets out wand) you kick him in the shins!

Heather: (kick)

Awakening

"Hey, guys." Andy's voice said and then footsteps were heard walking into the room.

"Andy... what are you doing here?" Sirius asked and it sounded like he sat down right next to the head of the bed.

James heard someone sit down on the other side of the bed. "But lingering, Dumbledore was here he left about ten minutes ago. I guess I'm just sticking around hoping..." She trailed off.

"Yeah... me too... ya know, Andromeda, go home." Sirius said using her full name for a change. "I'll watch him for a while. Full moon's coming up in a few days anyway right? You should go home and rest."

James would have furrowed his brow if he could, the full moon? When the battle was going on it was still two weeks until full moon.

"Yeah, it is." Andy said and he heard a chair squeak as she stood up. "I think Remus is going to come by in a couple hours, he got a job interview, and it's not the sort of job you can just reschedule an interview because of a bad time, if you know what I mean." She said.

"That's good, what about you? How have you been doing?"

"Eh, not great they never called me back. Damn bastards, I was perfect for the job and they knew it."

"Don't beat yourself up."

"Yeah, I'll see you back at the building, then?" She asked and Sirius heard a murmur he assumed was yes before the sound of her heavy boots was gone.

"Okay James." Sirius said in a voice that was incredibly flat and serious, he had only heard it a couple times before. "I'm gonna be straight with you... you have got to wake up, mate! We're all bloody falling apart! Lily, my God poor Lily she can't take much more of this. C'mon Jamie, I hate to say it but if you're gonna die then please just do and spare us from much more of this! But if you're gonna live then... hell Jamie, just wake up! Please..." James heard Sirius's voice break as he spoke. "You're killing us... you're killing me... just, please, wake up."

James tried to use all his strength to move but still, he couldn't. All around him his friends were in anguish because of him, no matter what was real and what wasn't where ever he went he could not escape the guilt.

It seemed that Sirius had stopped talking but James felt weight on the side of the bed where he sat, along with this, there wee slight tremors in the bed. James knew what he was doing, Sirius, was crying.

The world faded again and he was once again lying in his hospital bed staring up at the ceiling. He looked over and saw Sirius was gone again, for a man who lost his legs he sure got around a lot. He expected Sirius to walk in when the door opened but a healer did instead with a smile on his face.

"Mr. Potter, good news, you van get released today." He said and handed James some papers. "Just sign these and you can leave, we have some robes for you in the closet you can wear to leave."

"What about my friends?" James asked.

"Who are they?" The healer asked not looking up from his clipboard as if he didn't acre for the conversation at all.

"Sirius Black, Lily Evans, Laura Avalon and Peter Pettigrew."

"Well, Mr. Pettigrew was released earlier today, Ms. Avalon will be released later, Mr. Black will be staying with us just a few more days for some therapy and we have to keep Ms. Evans for further testing."

James looked horrified. "What? Why? What happened is she okay?"

"We're not sure, a curse hit her, just over night for more observation. No need to worry." He gave James a smile.

The smile didn't help though, James's mind flashed back to Remus lying in the bed, dying. And the healer that had been assigned to him, he didn't care about Remus, just because of something that he couldn't help. James pushed the thoughts out of his mind as the man started talking about something else. James didn't listen he just signed the papers and made the healer go away.

When he left James walked over to the closet and picked out a set of robes, he tried not to think where they came from. He tried to go by and visit the girls but Laura wasn't in her room and Lily was fast asleep, there was a goblet next to her bed. They must have wanted her too.

He left leaving a note for Sirius on the bed, promising that he would come back and stay with him. He was sure Sirius would be mad at his release but James's knew he'd get over it.

He walked over to the floo network near the entrance and stood in line for about a minute before he was next to go in the floo. He grabbed a handful of the green powder and threw it in and called out the address to his home. He may have lived in a mostly muggle complex but there were wizards there and they all had temporary floo connections while they lived there.

He stepped out of the flames in his own flat dusting the soot off of him. He looked around, it seemed to empty, only he and Peter were back and last time he saw Peter he said something about going and visiting his family before he returned home for good. So, James was the only one here. It was strange, it was like more should be more there, and by rights more should have been.

He walked out into the empty hall once filled with laughter and screams but now it looked like a different place all together. He walked past once door and looked at it, Andy and Remus's flat. What would happen to their things, did the landlord know what happened yet? He reached the door knob and tried to open it.

Locked.

He took out his wand and whispered _Alohomora _and the door clicked. James opened the now unlocked door and stepped into the flat. He kept thinking that Andy would come storming out yelling at him to get out and knock first like she always did. Or he would see Remus walking out looking grim but happy, ready for another full moon night with them. There would be no more of those.

He walked around and spotted the unfinished things lying around that could never be finished. There was a muggle news paper and the Daily Prophet, a quill was next to it and it was circling certain jobs. He looked at them, they weren't particularly good jobs, there was an AD for a Boggart to be removed; James knew Remus must have been the one to circle that. Another on the same paper was for a Grindylow to be removed, that one could have been either of them.

He left the papers and in the sink, unwashed dishes, and a couple wash cloths and brushes leaving James to believe they were once charmed to wash them but stopped. There were pictures on the walls, supporting Gryffindor colors, Quidditch teams, pictures of their friends.

"Boy, what the hell you doin' in my apartment, go knock first."

A small smile crept across James's face and he turned around to see Andy sitting at the kitchen table with Remus and Heather on the counter. He walked over to them and sat opposite of Remus and Andy.

They still wore their Gryffindor robes but they looked older, more like they did in seventh year. They no longer held their Quidditch supplies but now they had bags next to them, the girls filled with necessary books, Remus's was had several tears and it was over stuffed with books. James noticed that on Remus's back a thin silvery cloak was sitting.

"Is that my invisibility cloak?" James asked pointing to it.

"Yup, thinking about the full moon?" Remus asked, James, Sirius and Peter always used the cloak when sneaking out to meet Remus at the shrieking shack. Also James noticed he looked pale and dark circle were under his eyes, often how he looked the day of or before the full, Andy however looked perfectly normal.

"Yeah... why aren't you..." he pointed to Andy.

"Well apparently when ya think of the full moon ya think of Remus more then me, that's why he got affected and not me." She explained real quickly.

"But when you were thinking of Quidditch," Heather continued. "We all got applied since Andy was beater, Remus was keeper and I was always in the locker room." She grinned.

"Oh," James said and shot Remus and apologetic look. "Sorry, mate."

"Nothing to be sorry for, I can't feel it," he said giving James a smile and then laughed. "Let's just hope you don't think of the night of the full moon next time, I don't fancy showing up like that."

"Don't worry I won't." James returned the smile. "So, what are you guys gonna do with everything?"

"Why? Are you gonna loot it?" Andy asked deadpan.

"No, it's just... ya know... what's gonna happen to it all?"

"Since we didn't make our wills yet, some of my stuff goes to my mum and my sister, and all of you, of course." Remus said. "You can all decide; I daresay it's not much to split up."

"Well, my stuff will go to my brother, sister and my mama. You guys too of course," Andy said.

"Same here," Heather said. "You get the honor of splitting it up amongst yourselves." She said cheerfully. "Good luck with that."

James nodded and looked down at the table fore making a retching sound sand clutching his stomach. Remus looked over with a voice look and heather hopped off the counter. "Prongs... are you okay?" Remus asked and walked over.

"I think Wormy's home... should we get him?" Andy asked using the name the girls have started calling Peter several weeks before.

"How would you get him? He can't _see_ you." Heather said hitting Andy's arm.

"But I can move stuff that he _can_ see." Andy said hitting her back much harder.

"No... no I'm fi – oooh!" James said and clutched his stomach again.

Remus was now leaning right in front of James, their faces but a few inches away from one another. "James, tell me what's wrong. You're in no deathly harm, we would know. Do you know what's happening?" Remus asked.

James looked up at him, he had never been this close to any of them before, and they always just floated at least four feet away. James could feel the cooler air radiating off Remus and when he spoke his breath felt like ice. "I dunno..." He managed. "It's weird... like I'm taking a portkey... only it hurts."

At that moment he saw Remus back up away from his. His expression completely changed as though he had just realized something and gave his friend a smile. "See you later." He said and rather then watching them fad away in front of his eyes he looked down at his body began to fad away before them.

He looked back up at them and saw Andy and heather waving him goodbye and Remus giving him a knowing smile he no doubt picked up from Dumbledore.

"Wh... Wha..." James said as the world in front of him faded completely away.

Before he knew it he as in the familiar bed he was always in, in his dreams. He didn't try to move this time, he knew he couldn't. So he just listened, he heard a page ruffle next to his bed and a sigh that was defiantly Remus. He remembered hearing Andy say last time he would be coming when Sirius left.

James suddenly realized the position he was in wasn't all that comfortable and out of habit he attempted to move. It worked, he tried it again and let out a quiet moan as he did so.

Remus looked up dropping his book to the ground and bent over the bed. "James? Jamie? Are you awake?" He asked desperately and James felt the pressure on the bed.

He tried to open his eyes but only managed to squint. "R – Rem..." he moaned.

"D – Don't try and talk... Oh God I, uh, I have to go get the healer..." James felt the bed spring up a little from Remus getting off. "I'll uh, I'll be back, right back." Remus said and James heard him rushing out of the room.

James was alone in the room for a few moments, during this time he succeeded in moving a little more and opening his eyes wider letting them adjust to the light. Everything seemed stiff and sore, like he hadn't moved in weeks. But what was happening? He was just released, why was Remus here? Why was he... alive?

He tried to answer these questions but there was no answer, he had no idea what was happening. It was his dream, but he was awake... what was real?

He heard the door open and two people rush in, one more excited then the other.

"Mr. Potter?" The healer asked and James gave a small moan. He cracked his eyes open just in time to see the healer waving his wand over his body saying various spells. This lasted for several minutes before the healer took the wand away with a smile.

"Mr... Lupin." The healer said as though disgusted to say the name. "Your friend is fine for the moment, he shows no signs of falling back, I believe that if he continues to improve over the next day he should be fit to go home." The healer said and walked out of the room. "I shall tell the woman at the desk to alert his family."

"And Lily Evans, tell them to contact her as well." Remus said knowing full well that if Lily knew they all knew.

The man nodded and left leaving Remus alone with James.

"James?" Remus asked walking back over to the bed.

"Yeah, Moony..." James breathed.

"Oh Merlin, you're awake."

"Moony... wha' 'appened...?" He asked slurring slightly. "How are you alive?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're dead... you're supposed to be dead... cutting curse..." He moaned.

Remus stood up and James turned his head slightly to look at him now that he was regaining a bit of his strength. "You mean this?" Remus asked and lifted his shirt to expose a nasty scar. "They said the scar will heal in time, but I really wouldn't mind if it didn't, just go to the collection." He said looking at the various other scars littering his body.

"Wha' abou' Heather... Andy."

"They're fine... Heather's arms got pretty beat up, we're not sure from what, and Andy got a good knock on the head, not as good you though. But they're fine... James why are you asking all this?"

"You were all dead..." James moaned. "You, Andy, Heather, you died, Sirius lost both his legs... Lily was cursed, Laura and Peter seemed fine though." He said closing his eyes.

"No, James we're all fine, it's you we've been worried about. You were the one worst off. You went into a coma. You wouldn't wake up. But we never left, we made sure that someone was always here standing beside you." Remus said and reached over picking up James's glasses and handing them to him as he blinked a few times.

"So, you're all fine?" James asked confused.

"Every one of us." Remus said with a smile. "We'll never leave."

A second later the door opened and six teenagers walked in. James looked over, he saw Lily a lingering bandage here or there, but she was fine. She walked over and gave him a long hug. She never said a word though. James used this opportunity to look around. There was Andy and Heather, in their normal clothes Heather had bandages around both arms and hands, Andy had one on her head, Sirius stood next to them leaning heavily on a cane, Laura was next to him looking fine, James remembered she had found Dumbledore at some point, and Peter next to him with no visible injuries but his one arm was clutched to his stomach, perhaps that was where his injury was.

"My God, James, you're safe." Lily cried into his shoulder. "You're okay, I was so worried you prat!" She said letting go of him and hitting him in the chest. "Don't ever do that to me again!"

"Sorry." He said and looked around the room. "So... what happened exactly...?" he decided not to tell them about what he was apparently dreaming, he only told Remus that they were all dead and he knew Remus wouldn't push for details.

"Well, when I ran off to go fight those guys a death eater curses you and you went out cold. I ran back to you and while they were attacking me I don't know when they burned my arms, Andy ran over almost got hit with the killing curse and helped me take your body away, we thought you were dead. It turned out we were almost nearing the end. We won, Sirius found us, along with Remus, Laura and everyone, we made sure you weren't dead and then we were all taken to St. Mungos." Heather said.

"Okay... so I've been unconscious for how long now?" James asked still taking all the information in.

"Almost two weeks, only one in the Order still recovering, other then Sirius of course." Laura said motioning to Sirius on the cane. "The rest of us are nearly healed."

"Yeah, I didn't exactly get the better end of the deal." Sirius said and limped heavily over to the side of the bed to a vacant chair. "Hope I don't become as loony as Mad-Eye now that I got a bum leg." He said and sat down.

"You do not have a bum leg." Lily said. "The healer said they expect a full recovery from you."

"What do they know?" Sirius mumbled.

"Did anyone die in the battle?" James asked.

"One..." Peter said and looked down. "David, The killing curse." He explained.

James looked down, they hadn't know David long, he was older then them. In his early forties they assumed. He was a good man, a graduate of Durmstrang, moved to Britain after he graduated. "Have they had the funeral yet?" He asked quietly.

"No, they're having it in his home. It's tomorrow, we were going to go but we weren't sure if you'd be up yet." Lily said.

"I want to go." James said quickly and sitting up in the bed.

"Are you sure you'll be up to it tomorrow?" Remus said.

"I'll be fine, I am fine." James said.

They all exchanged doubtful looks; he had after all just woken up after being in a coma for almost two weeks. They knew very well he wasn't fine, but they also knew better then to argue with James Potter about such things. "Alright then, mate; we'll see how you feel tomorrow." Sirius said.

Heather: Lisa is... not doing well... she read the 7th book and I'm not sure the problem since I didn't finish it yet.

Lisa: Mmmhmmm I finished it at 4:45 this morning, after almost 17 hours of straight reading (with small food and bathroom breaks). Mmmmmmmmm

Heather: I'm going to assume that if you read it you understand...

Lisa: Yeah... I'll need much fic writing to get over it but I won't say anything. Now I have a couple things to say on my profile page my avatar shows a picture of the marauderetts I drew if you're interested and congrats to Untamed Loner who figured out my master plot of what I was doing. I had to practically tell my beta.

Heather: (glare)

Lisa: Now if you don't mind I'm going to drown my sorrows in fics and some sort of soda.


	20. Meeting and Marrige

Lisa: Okay, I'm over it, I'm cool...

Heather: S'okay... At this moment I still have not yet finished the book, maybe by the time she finishes writing this chapter I will be.

Lisa: Better be. Okay uh, now we're back to normal chapters, all this confusing whatever the hell I was writing back there is done with.

Heather: Now to quote these words from Lisa "on with the fic"!

Meetings and Marriage

James was released from the hospital about a week ago, the full moon had once agin come and gone. This month they stayed in the cellar due to James still recovering. After the battle the Order was calling many meetings and they were always doing something. Now they were at Order of the Phoenix HQ in the dinning room of the house trying to figure out their plans.

The house they had their meetings in was old, been abandoned for years, apparently Mad-Eye found it years ago and decided it would be perfect for their use. It smelled like mold and there always seemed to be a draft wherever you were. Some of the girls in the order had wanted to cheer it up and make it more livable, but Mad-Eye wouldn't allow it. There were plenty of rooms just in case any of the members needed somewhere to stay. Almost all the members were there at the moment with a small exception if they were away.

The four boys all sat on one side of the table and the four girls were directly opposite them. The meeting had yet to start, they were waiting for Dumbledore to arrive and begin so they were all talking quietly amongst themselves.

"So, what do you think is going on?" Marlene McKinnon said leaning over to talk to the group. "You think there's gonna be another battle?"

"I don't think so, if there was I think we would have been done with this and out there real quick." James said leaning over as well.

"Well then why are we here? It sounded urgent too." Benjy Fenwick said, "I mean I was sort of in the middle of something back home and then this Patronus comes right in the middle."

"Benjy, don't go into details... please just don't." Andy said turned her body to face him.

"But seriously, it sounded bad," Lily said.

"They probably just wanted to get us all here so they could talk about something that's not as important as it sounded like it would be." Edgar Bones said lazily waving it off with his hand. "If it was really that important them he would have already of been here, right?"

"But, Eddy, don't you think that it's a little odd? I mean we were just here two days ago." Marlene said doubtfully.

"Then something just came up." He replied. "I'm sure its nothing."

"Alright! All of you shut up and stay where you are!" Mad-Eye walking in yelling making everyone jump in their seats and their conversations halt.

A couple seconds later an old man walked through the door with a smile on his face and twinkling blue eyes. "Thank you Alastor, although I think I may have taken a different approach to my entrance." He grinned and the turned back to the members of the Order who were all watching him intently.

"What seems to be the reason for this meeting, Albus?" Minerva McGonagall said from the front of the table. The group of teenagers hadn't even noticed she was there, and they all agreed it was odd to see her outside the school, like she had a life.

"Well, I think I should skip right to the point of our meeting, I know this was short notice but I felt the need to tell all of you what's been happening." Dumbledore began to explain. "You see form various sources I have been told of a new group joining Voldemort's side in masses. The Werewolves."

Remus's head shot from where he was playing with his robes when he was only half paying attention. Many voices and murmurs began around them and some glances were given to Andy and Remus. Andy responded by giving them scowls and narrowing her eyes, Remus however looked down and hid his face.

"I assure you all that not all the werewolves have joined his side but other however, have been going in the following of one; Fenrir Greyback." He said his loud voice silencing everyone in the room immediately.

"Greyback," Remus said looking up to Dumbledore. "I – I thought he was away..." He stuttered, everyone had assumed that Grayback was either dead or in another country because of the low victim count.

"No, my boy, it seems he has returned, the last full moon an entire family was found mauled and murdered. They wanted to keep it quiet but it seems the word has leaked out. After careful investigation we have concluded that Fenrir Greyback is indeed back and he is attacking again and joining Voldemort. I advise you all too please stay inside under the full moon, no matter where you are and lock all your doors and windows."

"But what if we just stage an attack for him, we find out where he's gonna go and attack from on the full moon and we get him, he's just one man." Benjy asked.

"No..." Remus said his head hung to his chest and his arms on the table. "He's a cold blooded murderer, he wouldn't hesitate to kill you on the spot, and he is completely adapted to his werewolf abilities and is in fact a feral."

"What's a feral?" Alice asked looking to her boyfriend, Frank Longbottom.

"A feral is a werewolf," Dumbledore began filling in. "Who has accepted who he was so much that even when in human form he carries very wolfish characteristics and can act like one in human form, he needs not a wand to kill his enemies or any weapon for that matter."

"Except his mouth and hands." Heather said bitterly raising an eyebrow.

"Bloody werewolves..." Caradoc Dearborn said leaning back in his seat and giving Remus a death glare.

"Care to say that to my face?" Andy shouted leaning over the table at him.

"Never trust a werewolf!" he said leaning back over. "Especially one like you!" It was well known that Caradoc was a Slytherin but he was also opposed to Voldemort.

"Don't talk to her like that!" Remus cried standing up.

"You're all the same; I wouldn't doubt it that you lot are on his side too! Passing information like the half-breeds you are!" He screamed at them.

"Mr. Dearborn!" Dumbledore's voice boomed over everyone else. "I assure you Mr. Lupin and Ms. Volk are completely trustworthy. They are on our side."

"Don't listen to him, mate, little prick he is." Sirius said patting Remus on the back; he could tell he was upset.

"Back to the reason for holding this meeting, I want all of you too stay clear, if Greyback gets word you are in the Order you could be putting you and your family in grave danger. He will attack, especially if you have small children relatives, be sure to stay clear of him." He said. "Now, since our last meeting, that is the only thing I have to say to you all, you are dismissed, our next meeting will be sometime next week I shall send you a message to tell you the exact time."

Everyone started standing for a moment but Alice stood first and told them all to sit back down. "Um, wait can everyone stay for just another couple of minutes, I have an announcement to make." Everyone sat back down and waiting for her to begin talking again, "Just the other day, Frank and I..." She let out a squeal noise. "We've decided to get married!"

A shrill high pitched noise rang out from the women who began shouting congratulations to her as they crowded around and she showed them the ring. The men all went over to Frank and decided it was time to fill their goblets in celebration.

"To Frank and Alice!" Sirius said raising his goblet high in the air. "May they marry and move away from this God awful place!"

"And away from you!" James added and they all laughed and drank.

"So, do you have a date yet?" Laura asked Alice in their small group of a few girls, which included Lily.

"We want to get married fast, so hopefully in a few months." Alice responded.

"Why so fast?" Marlene asked.

"Well, we figured that a war is coming, a bad one, and we want to be married when it comes. I love him, he loves me, and if I were to die I'd want to be married to him." She smiled and looked over at Frank.

"That is so romantic!" Laura exclaimed. "Oh I wish I could meet a guy like that."

"Haven't you already?" Lily said raising her eyebrows and looking over in Sirius's direction.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no, I went there once, and I am _not_ going back." Laura said putting her hand up to cover Sirius to emphasize her point.

"You went out with _Sirius Black_?" Marlene said. "Ohh, why'd you throw that potion back in the brew?" She said grinning in Sirius's direction.

"That is none of your business." Laura said folding her arms.

"Okay, guys can I ask you a question?" Alice asked and then all nodded. "Okay, Marlene, would you be my maid of honor?"

Marlene squealed and jumped up and down. "Oh yes! Yes! Yes!" She cried.

"Okay, and Laura, Lily, bride's maids?" Alice asked and they cried out as well. "Where's Andy and Heather I have to ask them as well."

Although the girls were in different years at Hogwarts when they did go together their dorms were right next to one another and they became close friends. Marlene on the other hand they shared a dorm in school with two other girls in their year. One girl was a muggle born and murdered along with her family just after their seventh year and the final one, Alice never liked her.

"Uh, over there I think." Lily replied and pointing in a direction.

Alice looked and sure enough their were two girls getting their goblets refilled by the brothers Gideon and Fabian Prewett, it looked as though both of them were charming the brother and the brothers back. It was a very good thing Remus wasn't near them to see the display.

"Andy! Heather can I speak to you for a second?" She asked walking over to them.

"A minute even." Andy said turning around with Heather.

"Would you care to be brides maids at my wedding?" She asked them.

"Of course!" Andy cried. "Love wedding! Love the drinks!"

"Fabulous!" Heather said raising her goblet. "We'd be happy to."

"Gentlemen," Frank said standing in his circle of friends, which included Remus, James, Sirius, Peter, Benjy and Edgar. "For this wedding, I need some of you to act as my groomsmen; Alice is leaving me in charge of this, Benjy, you're a simple minded, slacking prick but you're amazing, how'd you like to be best man?"

"Delighted, Frank."

"Sirius, Remus, James, Ed, all of you, God help me annoying as hell, especially you boys, but wanna be my groomsmen?"

"An honor," Remus said speaking for them all.

"Sorry, Pete, Alice only let me pick four and all five of you are my best mates." Frank said patting Peter on the shoulder.

"Perfectly fine," he said grinning. "I'd probably mess the whole thing up anyway, never was good at any of that."

"Yeah, now you just have Sirius ready to mess it up," James said. "Expect him to get drunk"

"Shag the female wedding party" Remus said.

"Shag the whole wedding party."

"Shag anything that moves really..."

"I do not..." Sirius said folding his arms across his chest. "I pick my women very seriously."

"No you don't you have home a new girlfriend every night." Remus replied.

"I do not." Sirius said. "I just happen to be a ladies man."

"A man who can't keep a lady." James said and patted him on the shoulder. "Its okay mate, I'm sure one of your clients will find out who you really are one day."

Sirius promptly gave him a hit on the back of the head as the door to the main room opened and a couple people walked in along with McGonagall who let them in. There was a large man towering over everyone walked in happily, an older man with blue eyes and glasses, a middle aged woman with dark long hair, last was a square jawed wizard with think straw-like hair.

"Terribly sorry we couldn't make the meeting earlier," The woman called out walking in and putting her hands in up apology. "But Hagrid filled us all in."

"About the werewolves." The older man said. "But not about why we all had to leave out important duties to come here for. I had to close Hog's Head early you know and I wasn't doing bad on business tonight."

"Aberforth, my dear brother." Dumbledore said walking over and giving him a hug that Aberforth returned reluctantly. "We have some news to lighten up these hard times."

"And what is it?" The middle aged woman asked.

"Yeah, why'd we all have to be here?" The square jawed man asked.

"A marriage, Dorcas and Sturgis, a marriage! Among two of our beloved members, Frank and Alice," Dumbledore said happily.

"Yer gettin' married!" Hagrid boomed smiling. "Well that's wonderful news!" He cried and walked over to the husband and wife to be and gave them both hugs.

"A wedding! Oh I love weddings! Alice you must let me help with the decorating!" Dorcas Meadows cried and walked over to the younger woman.

"I wouldn't want it any other way." Alice smiled and hugged her.

"Alastor?" Dumbledore called out among the crowd. "Is everyone here?"

Mad-Eye used his one eye to look around the room and do a head count along with a face count. "Missing a few, Albus, they're on their way up the street now, I'll go let them in." He said and walked out the door and too the front of the house.

A few minutes later Mad-Eye walked back in with a man and a woman, apparently he already filled them in on the information because they went to hug the new bride and groom. "That's all of them, Albus," he looked around at the room filled with people. "Bit of a pathetic number..." He mumbled to himself.

"All of you may I have your attention, since on this day we were fortunate enough to gather the entire Order of the Phoenix in one place I believe we should do this now. Get together all of you, we're taking a photograph." His eyes twinkled as he smiled and everyone got excited.

"Andy! Heather!" Laura yelled jogging over to them and grabbing their wrists. "C'mon get with us for the picture."

"Why are we takin' a picture now I think I'm drunk I can't see." Andy complained as Laura drug them over. "I'll be cross eyed or something."

"Put your glasses on, genius." Heather mumbled and pushed the glasses that were currently on Andy's head down on her nose.

"Well, hey, look at that..." Andy said and adjusted them.

"You're not drunk, you know you're not drunk, you've had one drink." Heather said.

"Eh, I could'a passed out at one point..." Andy shrugged and they squeezed into the group front and center.

The girls stayed on one side and the boys were directing next to them, Andy next to Remus in front of them James next to Lily. Peter and Heather stood on the outside of Andy and Remus while Sirius and Laura stood on the outside of Lily and James. Since Lily and James stood in the very front they were given a sign to hold. It read, 1978.

"Alright everyone get ready." Edgar said setting up the camera in front of them all. He pushed a button and jumped over things and people to get to his spot and a few seconds later a flash went off and smoke went up.

"In memory of the 1970's Order of the Phoenix," Gideon said raising his goblet and they all drank.

"Now, go about your normal activities!" Dumbledore cried out and the celebration commenced.

It wasn't until well in the morning the next day that everyone was gone. Those who didn't have early jobs stayed the latest. James and Sirius both left because of their auror training the next morning, Heather and Laura left early too, then the rest left all at once, Remus and Andy had no jobs but they both figured they should have gone in anyway. Besides, Remus wanted to be awake the next day; he was planning on going to St. Mungo's to visit Charlotte who had still not been released.

Lisa: That was a fun chapter to come back from all the ickyness that was those last ones.

Heather: And things are no longer hurting the brain to think about.

Lisa: Exactly.

Heather: So click the pruply-pinkish-bluey button and leave a nice review!

Lisa: YES!

Heather: YES!

Lisa: But anyway I revamped a lot of my chapters from my last story, mainly chapter eighteen. Secrets Reveiled. But others as well, and once again review.


	21. Reprise Part One

Lisa: dances I got my drivers license, I got my drivers license.

Heather: it seemed like just yesterday you were like fourteen and putting that first chapter in 'From beginning to End'.

Lisa: Yeah... now I can go to the mall whenever I please...

Heather: yeah...

Lisa: yeah... but anyway me and Heather are both going to Steph birthday party all weekend.

Steph: YAY PARTEH!!!!

Lisa: Yes, so I won't be writing all that weekend, I hope I finish this in time but if I don't that's why.

Steph: PARTEH!!!

Lisa: Shut up, but anyway that's all for now, enjoy this chapter!

Reprise: Part One

Laura was sitting in her room in her and Heather's apartment. Things were dull, even she could see that. It was two weeks after Alice and Frank got engaged and so far nothing new. Voldemort hadn't made any new moves on them, he hadn't attacked anyone recently, and they were all worried it was because something big was coming.

It was fairly late at night, or early that morning actually, she was sitting on her bed letting the light from the crescent moon outside mix with that of the oil lamp in the room. She was flipping though old pictures of them in school. As much as she was happy to be out of the uniform all the time she couldn't help but feel sad she would never wear it again, she did after all wear it for seven years. But she would never abandon her Gryffindor blood. Her bed sheets were even gold and scarlet.

One picture she found interesting, Heather must have taken it because her head was in the very corner while the rest of them, meaning Andy, Lily and herself, were posing.

Thinking back she remembered when it was taken, they were in their dorm room. Thinking up a prank for the boys, Andy had her tie around her head, Lily had her shirt on backwards and she had her socks uneven and a shoe on her head. Heather was just making a face. That's what happens in a prank dry spell.

It was when they made, or she made, everyone sing. She didn't mean it honestly, she tried aiming for just the boys but she just screwed up a little. Then a thought came to her mind. She grinned and picked up a hand written spell book they made in seventh year that she kept under her bed. Flipping through it she struggled to remember the spell she needed. Upon finding it on page 409 she read it and decided that just a few alteration of it would fit her liking perfectly.

If this all went according to plan, the spell would take effect at one o'clock the next day, or that day... depends on how you look at it.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

It was early afternoon in the household for Remus Lupin and Andromeda Volk. Remus was being left alone for the day, James and Sirius were in Auror training until around five, Laura and Heather were at their ministry jobs, Peter was at his job, and Lily and Andy were getting ready for their jobs at the . Lily had managed to get Andy a muggle waitressing job with her where no one would discriminate. As much as Andy would rather have the bartending job she for one was not yet old enough, stupid muggle rules, she thought, Remus had yet to get a job; he did though have an interview later.

Right now Andy was running around the house getting her things ready. Lily was standing in the doorway, her pale blue and black skirt uniform on along with an apron. Her shoes were simple, cheep good for being on your feet all day taking orders and her hair was pulled back. She watched as Andy zipped up her high, nearly flat healed, she wasn't stupid, boots and threw on, what Lily thought, was useless and pointless trinkets. Andy argued and said it was as much a part of her as her hair and nails. All this time Remus sat at the table grinning at the display.

"Are you ready yet?" Lily asked. "We have to be there in five minutes we're going to be late, usually I'd have left five minutes ago." Lily was the only one to have a driver's license, or an official one, the ones Andy and Sirius had to drive the bike didn't cont.

"Lily, I'm a witch so I think I'll Apparate." Andy said braiding her hair behind her hair.

"It's a muggle community, someone might see you and then the ministry will get involved for you using magic in front of muggles and then because you're a werewolf it'll be ten times worse and then they'll deport you or something." Lily babbled making Andy roll her eyes.

"Please, they can't punish me for something they don't know happened." Andy said standing up and grabbing her coat off the chair by the door.

Lily looked up and saw the clock on the wall chime announcing it was one o'clock. "See! Look we're late!"

Andy grinned. "We're not late if we Apparate. It takes two seconds, not long at all." She stopped talking when she noticed she drug out the all in a long note.

Lily's eyes widened and she began to sing in a lovely high voice as soft music started playing.

_Lily_

Did you just sing?  
Tell me that it was a momentary thing...

Wait...

Am I singing too?

_Andy_

This is no good

Who's casting the spell?

But then again who could?

_Lily_

We made this spell up

We made it up for the boys

Only one of us can cast it

The music started to get a more upbeat tone as Andy's temper starting rising.

_Andy_

Well it wasn't me

Was it you

What did you do?

_Lily_

It wasn't me

Why would I do it?

_Remus_

Perhaps it was Heather

She would know whether

It was her or Laura

He sang in a soft tenor as he watched in amusement, he honestly didn't care if he sang or not.

_Andy_

It was Laura I bet!

She knows I'd get upset

It was her last time

And it's her this time

It has to be

_Lily_

We'll discuss it in a few

But you know you're new

You can't afford to be late for work

_Andy_

I don't give a crap!

I'm gonna kill that little sap!

_Remus_

Andy, love, just go to work

We can't afford you to be sacked

Later you can kill her

Later you can

But for now just go to work

_Andy_

Fine I'll go to work

But I hope she knows

I hope she knows

That I'm gonna kill her

Lily began speaking once again. "You won't really kill her will you?"

The evil manic grin dropped from Andy's face and a small smile appeared as she crossed her arms. "It's a joke." She said laughing slightly and then her smile dropped to a frown and she spoke in deadpan. "I do that."

With that there was a crack and the two girls Apparated to their work. The music stopped and Remus was left alone in the room. The only one left on the whole floor.

He looked up and saw it was just after one, his interview was at one thirty and he knew he would be walking. He always did. He made his way over to the room and grabbed his robe, he grimaced at the sight. It was defiantly not job interview worthy but it was all he had. He pulled them on and walked out the front door locking it behind him and then he proceeded to walked down the hall and to his interview.

After the interview he planned on visiting Charlotte in St. Mungo's. He was actually beginning to get worried she would become a permanent resident there. They knew what was wrong, but they didn't know how to fix it. She often went in seizures or her heart would act up. She was given a potion every hour while she was awake. It seemed to all die down as she slept and the risk went away for a short amount of time. But she was still on heavy watch with the healers.

He truly prayed that he didn't start singing in the interview. But as he walked outside and saw the busy people he noticed that if he did, it probably wouldn't be a problem. Everyone was singing like it was completely natural in their every day lives. Laura must have altered the spell, so now everyone sang, magical and muggle people alike. Remus couldn't help but laugh, this really bought him back to when they were in school.

He arrived at the building about five minutes before his interview. Luckily he managed to avoid all the singing and dancing around him so he couldn't get wrapped up in it and be late. He walked in and walked over to the receptionist.

"Hello, I'm, uh, here for my interview." He said to her and she looked down at her papers.

"Oh, yes, Mister... Lupin? Is it?" She asked looking up over her gem in crested glasses.

"Yes, that's right." He said.

"Okay, well, please take a seat over there; he'll be with you shortly." She smiled and motioned to the seat.

Remus gave her a small smile and nodded, he walked over to a vacant seat next to another man who was apparently also going for the job. He didn't look like he had money but the set of robes he was wearing were far nicer then Remus's.

The man went up before Remus in a couple minutes. Ten minutes hadn't even passed when the man walked out a nervous look on his face. A couple seconds later his name was called.

He stood up and walked over to the door; he opened it and walked in the room trying not to show his nervousness. The man motioned for him to have a seat. He complied and the man tapped his wand to a piece of paper that had the previous mans resume on it and the resume changed to that of Remus's.

"Hello, Mr. Lupin, I'm Joshua Epps, I'll be your interviewer." He said absent mindedly as he read the paper. "Says here you graduated Hogwarts in the top ten of your class, is that true?"

"Yes it is." Remus replied.

"What house were you in?"

"Gryffindor, Sir."

Mr. Epps smiled. "Always a good sign; Your best class?"

"Defense Against the Dark Arts." Remus said proudly.

"Really? I always liked that class too. But anyway back to this resume of yours its impressive, you seem to have a lot of useful skills." He said and turned the paper over. "Why exactly do you want this job?" He asked.

"Well, I'm currently living with my girlfriend and her income can't pay for everything." Remus said offering a slight smile that the man returned. "Besides I saw this and it looked like something I could be good at."

"According to your resume you would be." He read it over a little more. "You seem to of had a lot of jobs in your life, could you explain why?"

Remus bit his lip; he didn't want to spill the fact that he was a werewolf and always got fired if the man didn't ask. He was only required to answer truthfully if he was asked. He quickly came up with a quick lie, he was always good at that, but it was proved in the past not quite good enough for his three best friends. "Oh well, you see my father left when I was a kid so I had to work when I was home from school. I could never seem to find one that would keep me only in the summer."

The man nodded and didn't push the subject any further but his next question made Remus wish he had pushed it. "Now, do you have any medical conditions that could prevent you from working?" He asked. It seemed to be an absent minded question as if he had to ask it a lot and it held no real meaning to him anymore.

Remus shifted in his seat and hesitated answering. Mr. Epps seemed to notice and he looked up at him. "Well, Mr. Lupin?"

"Well... I... I do." Remus said and this caught his attention.

"It would be?"

"I'm a... I'm a werewolf... Sir." Remus said.

The man stopped what he was doing right away and looked up at him. "Wh – what...?" he asked thinking he may have heard wrong.

"I'm a werewolf." Remus said with more confidence.

"I see." Mr. Epps said, his while demeanor had changed, he was no longer good hearted and warm towards him. He was cold and hard, his voice didn't have a laugh in it only ice cold words. He had taken his hands off the table and even though he tried to be quiet about it he had scotched his chair back a couple inches. Remus suppressed rolling his eyes, this guy was acting like he would dive over the table and rip out his throat. "Well, I uh, I think that's all for now." He stood up and inched back as Remus stood as well. "We'll call you."

Remus inwardly scoffed and resisted laughing out loud, they wouldn't call him. "Yes, sure, thank you for your time, Mr. Epps." He said trying to be polite about it.

Remus walked out of the room and glanced at the secretary, she had her clip board over her mouth to try and hide her shocked look. She must have been listening in. He walked past her and he heard the wheels on her chair roll away.

He sighed and walked out the front door he didn't need any of that anyway, he didn't want the job if when he was there everyone would cringe. While these thoughts buzzed through his head a soft beat started up. He knew what was coming and there was nothing he could do to stop so why not just go with it?

_Remus_

They think I'm a monster

A dark and evil creature

They think I'll tear their throats out

But they don't know me

They only see what they think they know

But what they know is all exaggerated lies

A big web of lies

And I'm trapped in the middle

Can't really blame them

So many people spread the lies of my kind

Can so many people be that wrong?

Is there truth to what they say...?

Am I stereotype  
Am I doing more harm then good  
When people see me can they tell what I am

What I become

But they think I'm a monster

A dark being born to kill

A filthy dirty street rat!

A worthless piece of crap!

As Remus walked he kicked an idle can on the sidewalk in anger as he continued on his way to St. Mungo's.

But they don't know me

They don't know what I could be

Given the chance they will see

I'll open my own doors I'll find my own key!

They don't know me!

They can't see past their hatred and loathing

They can't see the boy I am

The boy who just needs a chance

A chance to show the world

I'm more then a monster

A chance to do all I've wanted

All I need is a chance!

I'll show them what they don't see

What they'll never know

That a werewolf is more then a monster once a month

He's a man at heart

They might not see my heart

But it's true, they're right

I may be a dark creature

But hell if I'm an evil being

He reached an active Floo Network and threw the power in and called out St. Mungo's. He stepped out into the crowed main lobby and continued to sing.

I'm not evil

I'm not a monster

Someday they'll see that

Someday they'll know

The music started building and becoming loud and demanding as Remus started finishing his song.

I'll show them

I'll show them

I'll show them all

I'm more then a werewolf!

Remus cleared his throat and jumped off the bench as he began to walk over to his sister's room. All the healers knew him by now; he was there almost every other day. Remus walked up the stairs and narrowly avoided getting wrapped into another song with a few healers. He did however play back up in one on his way up there about healing potions and counter curses. That made him a little late.

He knocked softly on the door and opened it when she gave him the okay to come in. He noticed her smiling in the bed. Over the weeks she was here he had helped her personalize her room, pictures of him, his mother and sister. Much to his dislike she had a picture of her and their Dad; apparently he made a point to come by when Remus or the rest of his family wouldn't be there.

"You don't have to knock you know." She said moving over and patting the bed next to her signaling for him to sit down next to her.

"I know, but it's a reflex." He said and sat down.

"So, how did you're interview go?" Charlotte asked.

"Eh..." Remus sighed and looked down at his hands on his lap. "Don't ask, please."

"Oh, I'm sure it wasn't that bad."

"It was trust me," Remus said.

Charlotte nodded and moved her head down so she could look him in the eyes. "Remus, everything's going to turn out fine, okay? Trust me; I'll always be there to help you out. You're my baby brother, it's my job."

Remus smiled. "Yeah, I know, I guess I can always get a muggle job right?"

"Yeah," she said and patted his back.

Remus sat up straight and got a cheerful face back on. "So, how have you been?"

"Oh just wonderful, this whole singing this is killing me though, a Medi witch can rarely come in to check on me without bursting into song and then including me." She said leaning back on the many pillows behind her.

He laughed and joined her on the pillows. "I know what you mean; I was in song the whole way here."

"What kind of evil wizard cats this?" She pouted.

"Witch, if I may be more exact. I believe I know the main suspect."

"Do you now? Could I have her name so I can kill her?" Charlotte asked sitting up on her elbows.

"No... I think she has enough people after her head on a silver platter for now." The smiled went away form his face and he became serious. 'But, really, how are you? Like, medically?"

She sighed. "Rem, I don't know... The healers don't know how much more my body can take..."

Remus shifted his seat so he was facing her completely and he began signing.

_Remus_

No, you're gonna be okay

What exactly did they say?

_Charlotte_

Remus I don't know

Please, don't be worried

The healers are doing all they can but...

_Remus_

You're gonna be okay

There must be a way

_Charlotte_

No please there isn't

You have to face it

These could be my final days...

_Remus_

No their not

You said you'd be there

You said you'd be there for me

_Charlotte_

And I will

I'll always be with you as long as you remember me

_Remus_

But you're gonna be okay

_Charlotte_

Accept it, please

My life is in its final days

Unless a miracle is found

I don't know how much longer I'll last

And I'd rather be dead

Then in this dread

Sitting here on this bed

All alone and sad

_Remus_

But I'm here

_Charlotte_

As much as I love you

You can't be here all the time

I'm just a leech

Taking you from your life

_Remus_

I have no life for you to take me from

_Charlotte_

Yes, you do

You have more then you know

Accept it

Embrace it

Show the world all you can do

Show them what you can be

Show them what they can't see

Find your own door and open it with your own key...

She drug out the final note in beautiful soprano voice, worthy for an opera. Remus bit his bottom lip, he just got reunited with his sister, and he didn't want her to go so soon.

Rather then saying anything more he just leaned his head on her shoulder and she placed her head on his. They sat like this in silence for the rest of the visit.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

At the ministry James and Sirius were in the cafeteria for their fifteen minute break during their training. They sat there with candy bars form the nearby machine in silence. Both of them were exhausted from their training, they were working extra hard to try and get to the top of their class even though they didn't have too far to go.

As they sat there each of them picking at the others candy two girls walked up to them. They looked up and saw that it was Heather and Laura, apparently on their breaks. Both of them held trays of food.

"Hey guys." Heather said sitting down and picking at the food on her plate with a fork. "What's up?"

"Ugghhh..." James moaned and put his head down on the table.

"Is that what you're eating for lunch?" Laura asked appalled. "That is not healthy at all."

"I don't care, its sugar and at the moment I need sugar." Sirius said and took another bit of his chocolate bar. "Shame, Remy isn't here, this would make his day."

"Didn't Remus have an interview today?" Laura asked.

"Yup, fingers crossed, eh?" James replied and crossed his fingers on the hand not holding the candy bar.

"Oh I hope he gets it." Laura said. "I'm worried about them, how are they paying rent? How are they buying food?" She exclaimed. "Andy just started last week, what was their income before!?"

"You know Remus had little personal jobs for people." Heather said. "He made money doing that, even if it wasn't much. Remember both of them know how to stretch a dollar." She said focusing most of her attention on the tray in front of her.

Laura nodded but looked worried none the less. "Yeah... I know... but how long can they really stretch one?" She asked.

Heather sighed, "Don't worry, they'll manage they always do."

James looked up and saw a boy walking over to their table. He was tall with black hair and a muscular build. He smiled when he saw James looked. "Hey, mind if I sit?" he asked.

"Come on," Sirius said and moved over a couple inches closer to James to give him more room. "So what brings you over here?"

"Eh, nothing to do." Chris yawned and put his arms on the table. He looked up at the girls and a grin spread across his face. "Hello again." He said to Heather.

Heather gave a lopsided grin and James raised an eyebrow. "You two know one another?" he asked.

"I'd say he knows my toilet more then me." Heather said. "Remember when I left the bar early that one night and left you and Andy there alone?"

Sirius looked grim. "How could I forget?" He replied.

"Well I found this jerk there drinking more then he could handle," She jutted her thumb in Chris's general direction, "bought him back home. He got well acquainted with my toilet that night." She said.

"So you _didn't_ go home and have wild crazy sex like me and Andy thought." Sirius said. "You just bought home a little lost puppy."

"I am not a little lost puppy." Chris protested.

"You were that night." Heather said staring at him.

The next table over a few of the ministry employees began singing about work and Laura grinned as she watched them sing.

"I wonder who cast that bloody spell..." Sirius wondered allowed. "We all got sucked into one during our training; it's just not right to watch Mad-Eye Moody sing!" He exclaimed.

"I wonder," Laura said taking a sip of her drink.

"But anyway, how is Auror training going for you guys? Other then your lovely number, which by the way I heard part of it." Heather said grinning at them.

_Sirius_

Tiresome

_James_

Exhausting

_Sirius_

Boring

_James_

Hard

_Chris_

Pointless

_Sirius, James, Chris_

We get there early

We leave there late

We come and cast spells

At each other all day

_Sirius_

Offense

_James_

Defense

_Chris_

It's sickening

"You're an Auror?" Heather asked and looked to Chris with a confused look on.

Chris leaned over and wiggled his eyebrows and nodded. "You like that?" he asked.

Heather shook her head as the song continued on.

_James_

We have no lives

We live them here

_Sirius_

Haven't been to the bar

In sixty years

Haven't taken home a girl

And more

_James_

I can't remember the last time

We played a prank

On the landlord

He's probably wondering where we are!

_Chris_

We have no free time

We have no fun

It's all work, work, work, till the job is done

_Sirius, James, Chris_

Just kill us we beg of you

Kill us please

Being an Auror's no fun and games

It looks cool but its pain

We miss our fun

We miss the ladies

We miss the dates

We miss the parties

I can't wait until I'm an Auror!

Then we can control the world

Then we'll be done with the training

And work a normal job

_Sirius_

I can't wait to be an Auror!

_James_

Then our lives can be fun and games!

_Chris_

I can't wait to be an Auror!

_Sirius, James, Chris_

We can't wait to be Aurors

Then our lives can be fun and games!

The boys sang up reaching notes that put the women to shame and ended on top of the lunch table they were once sitting at. The girls continued to sit there and watch them with black expressions.

Finally Heather broke the silence and looked at Chris. "You can't sing for shit, can you?" She asked him bluntly.

He shook his head and returned to his seat at the table across form her. "Nope." He replied.

"It's like a chicken beating itself with a cat." She said.

"Well you sing better then Peter, very good thing he's not here." Sirius said. "Now that sounds like a cat in pain beating itself with a roster shagging a hen while riding across the lake clawing the giant squid."

"Oh he's not that horrible." Laura defended him.

"Yes, he is." James said taking the side of Sirius.

"Gonna have to agree with them, Lar." Heather said. "Speaking of Peter have you guys seen him lately?" She asked.

"No, but I know he got a new job," James said. "Working for his uncle I believe, pure blood git he is, but he makes money so I'm sure Wormtail just took it for that reason. Besides he is a pure blood himself, I'm sure his uncle likes him well enough."

"Being pure blood is over rated." Chris stated.

"You're not?" Heather asked.

"No, my mum's a muggle born, dad's a half blood, you?"

She shook her head. "No, magic's been in my family for the longest time but none of us are pure bloods, we're mutts." She concluded.

"Fair enough." He replied.

"Come on guys, we better head back, don't want Mad-Eye on our backs anymore then he already is." James said getting up from his seat on the chair. They really didn't need Mad-Eye on them anymore then he already was for being in the Order. It often got a little scary at times.

"Alright, see you later." Laura said waving goodbye to the boys.

They all bid their goodbyes behind their backs with a wave as they walked away and back to the Auror training area. Heather looked over to Laura as she stood up as well. "Come on, we better go back too, I have paperwork to fill out with some smart ass guy who decided to try and tame a Grindylow."

"Yeah, I got stuff to do too." She replied and the two girls began walking away back to their jobs.

Lisa: Don't worry guys, everyone else gets involved in the next chapter for some singing. Lily and Andy, Peter, Laura and Heather, they all get their hand. Ya know there's only so much I can put in more chapter without it being to long... Like this one.

Heather: It wasn't that long

Lisa: Sixteen pages...

Heather: (shrug)

Lisa: But I have something to announce, Chris is not my character I stole him from Heather's story. So if you ever want more of him, or more Andy and Laura and Heather by another name go check out her story! It's Zoids! I knew nothing of Zoids until I read her story!

Heather: YES! But the story is currently on hiatus and will probably be rewritten somewhere down the line.

Lisa: Si, and I hope she does cuz I like it. (hint hint Heather). By the way if you do get an urge to read it her names LunarDog.

Heather: PUBLICITY!


	22. Reprise Part Two

Lisa: Just as an explanation one of the main inspirations for the musical chapters to be reprised. The big one was the fact me and Laura saw The Remus Lupins last night, or when I started writing this it was last night. Now I thought Alex was hot before but damn he is ten times better live! I have been waiting for this concert for like two months! I also saw the Moaning Myrtles and The Whomping Willows. I got a picture with Alex to, we're like hugging, now I don't often say cute, but it really is a cute picture.

Heather: That was longer then it should have been.

Lisa: I know I babbled.

Laura: You have every right, it was awesome!

Lisa: It so was, now everyone ya'll know what I'm gonna say... ENJOY THE DAMNED CHAPTER!

Reprise: Part Two

Lily walked back and forth holding the plates of food steady up her arms, she had gotten fairly good at doing this. Andy on the other hand didn't trust anything but her hands when holding the food and often carried the trays. Lily never understood that, she was a werewolf her abilities were enhanced even in human form, why didn't she just trust them? It just made her think of how she would be acting if she had no enhanced abilities.

She walked up and down the isles looking at the various tables for anyone who may need a refilled drink or a plate taken away. Seeing none she decided to head to the back and see if anyone needed help with an order. As she walked she spotted Andy, once again carrying a tray with too much on it. Lily could see what would happen light years before it did and she ran over to prevent it. But she was too late.

The tray tripped and Lily closed her eyes prepared to hear the loud crash, but after a few seconds... nothing. She opened them to see Andy holding the tray and rearranging a few things. Lily was confused for a moment; she had seen the tray tip almost completely on its side, why didn't it tip? But then she saw it, the trip of a piece of wood sticking out of her apron. She made a face that looked like she was sucking on a lemon and watched as Andy delivered the food and when she headed to the back she caught up with her.

"What do you think you're doing?" Lily asked fiercely, her red headed temper getting the better of her.

"What?" Andy asked innocently as she placed the tray down on all the others.

Lily looked around to make sure no one was watched and she said in a hushed voice, "you're using magic!"

Andy smiled and nodded with a look of realization on her face. "Oh yeah, that, well, yea... Yes... yes I did use magic." She said coming clean. "What's the deal? We're of age; I can use magic whenever the hell I want."

"But that does not mean you can apparate from table to table or use it to keep all the food on your tray! What if a muggle saw? Then you'd be accused of showing magic to muggles and you could get arrested or –"

"Oh come on, no one saw me, besides it just confuses them. And by the way, for the record I never once went from table to table, it was always one side of the place to the other. In _secret_," she emphasized the word. "Lils, no one saw me."

Lily shook her head and was about to say something else when another girl walked in. "What the hell are you two doing back here? If Steve," their boss. "Catches you back here you're both in big trouble." She said. "There are tables that need to their food and orders taken. I can't cover for you two all the time."

"Sorry, Ronnie." Lily said and gave a warning look to Andy.

"Yeah, sorry." Andy said rolling her eyes at her friend.

"Lily you should know better." Ronnie said as they walked out of the back followed by Andy.

"I know, I know, but you know how Americans can be." Lily said smirking back to Andy in a joking manor.

"Bloody colonials." Ronnie giggled back, the two girls had gotten used to each other enough to the point where they could make fun of Andy's homeland and make fun of the many piercings that covered Ronnie's ears, lip and eyebrow.

"Aw, you're just saying that because the magnet broke up with you." Andy shot back, Ronnie's ex-boyfriend, had even more piercings then she, Andy always made fun that if they ever locked lips they would get stuck.

"Well what about your boyfriend, never even seen him." She said.

"Oh trust me, he's there, and you don't want to see them together. It's some strange force their mouths are attracted to one anther and they can't separate for hours at a time, I don't know how they even breathe." Lily said.

"You're one to talk; I've seen you with James." Andy smiled.

Lily arrived at a table with the other girls still in earshot of her. It was starting to get a little busy, it was around dinner time.

_Lily_

May I take your order?

_Andy_

Can I refill your drink?

_Ronnie_

Shall I bring you the check?

Or do you want dessert

_Lily_

Our specials today are

The upbeat music stopped for a moment like a record on hold

Oh, okay

You've made up your mind then

It started again in its solid beat

_Andy_

Thank you

I'll be right back

_Ronnie_

I'll bring you the check

_Lily_

I'll be back with your food

The three girls walked into the back together and leaned up against the counter as they handed their orders over.

_Lily_

Now where were we?

Oh yes

You were making fun of me

But from what I can see

You and Remy have that disorder

_Andy_

Oh now we have a disorder

_Lily_

Yes you can't see to get your faces apart

_Ronnie_

Now I'm not one to pry

_Lily, Andy_

Yeah right

_Ronnie_

But I've never seen this "Remy" of yours

Ronnie was kind enough to use air quotes as she referred to him

Is he like you?

Is a he a tool?

Does he joke?

Does he poke?

Into things that aren't his

Does he take pride?

In the ride

Or horror that he plays

_Lily_

Oh no

He's sweet

He's kind

He's smart

Their polar opposites!

The girls took what they had gone back their for an then began to walk back out to the main area to serve the food and drinks. An old theme then came up from the steady music they once had. They all, except for Ronnie, recognized it right away as Andy rock theme she acquired last time they all had a musical day, back when they were still in school.

_Andy_

And what the hell does that mean

Ya little fiend

Am I not smart?

Ya little tart

The music calmed once again after Andy's outburst.

_Lily_

Don't speak that way

You now what Steve would say?

_Ronnie (mimicking a mans voice)_

I'll fire you on the spot

You can just go out and rot

I don't need this added stress

I just need some rest

_Andy_

He needs more then rest

_Ronnie_

Needs a good shag

_Lily_

We don't need to speak of that

Now just go on back

Work so we can end this song

It's getting really, really wrong

_Ronnie, Andy_

Agreed

The music stopped abruptly and the girls continued to take orders and serve the customers.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Remus walked out of the room, she had made him go home, he had stayed later then he intended. His eyes were red and puffy, he hadn't remembered last time he cried so much. Or he could but he didn't wish to relive those memories.

As he walked down the hall e rubbed his eyes and bumped into someone. "Oh sor –" He said as he look up but stopped himself when he saw who it was.

His father looked down at him with a n expressionless gaze, Remus on the other hand glared up at his with fire in his blue eyes. Remus moved out of the way and brushed pat him knocking their shoulders together. John Lupin turned around and watched his son leave. "Remus, wait." He called out.

Remus stopped in his tracks but didn't turn around, he knew he should just leave. Not listen to a thing the man had to say he was a liar, a man who abandoned him at a young age. He knew he would feed him nothing but hate and break his heart like he did all those years ago. But something made Remus stay and turn around.

"Whatever happens, Remus, you're my son, I love you. And I'm staying for you, your mother and your sister." He said.

Remus shook his head and laughed slightly. "No you're not; you're leaving, just like you did before. You don't love me; you can't stand the sight of me. You won't condemn yourself to life as an outcast for me, a werewolf's father; you don't have the balls to take the stares, the looks, and the disgust in people's eyes. You're not strong enough to endure it, so don't say you will, because we both know you wouldn't last a second as the father of a wolf." He said and then turned on his heal to walk away again.

Remus was proud of what he did, he stood up to him. He told him the truth without stuttering showing hope that he might have a father. He walked through the halls of the hospital, some people who heard their conversation and heard what he was gave him wary looks and stayed clear, but this didn't bother him. He was too busy being happy, it was amazing how he could have gone from so sad to so happy in mere seconds.

But then just as it came his happiness had faded when his mind drifted back to Charlotte. He talked to the head healer and he told him the same thing, the chances of her making it were very slim. He looked at his watch and saw that it was getting a bit late, Andy would be home from work in less then three hours. Sirius and James should already be back, they were probably wondering where he was. Same for Heather and Laura, they should be returning now or already be back.

He stepped in the elevator and began preparing for the questions that were bound to hit him when he arrived.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Heather and Laura walked down the hall to James's apartment where the two boys were currently hanging out. When they arrived at the door Heather reached down to just open it without knocking but was stopped by Laura.

"What?" She asked giving her friend a confused look. "I wanna walk in, and last I checked that included the turning of this knob."

"Shouldn't we knock?" Laura asked, of course, always being the polite one.

"Why? They never knock for us."

"Then if we do knock it would just show that we are the better people."

"But I'm not a better people." Heather said. "Why would we have to knock, what do you think they're doing?" She asked and put her ear to the door, trying to listen for something interesting.

"I'm sure they're doing nothing, it's just proper courtesy." Laura sighed rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands.

"Think Lily knows?" Heather said eyes wide.

Laura rolled her eyes, having been Sirius's girlfriend for several years this was just preposterous. "Move," She stated and knocked a couple times before opening the door and walking in. "It's Laura and Heather." She said before opening the door all the way and walking in.

When they walked in Heather's theory was proved wrong, the two boys were simply sitting on the couch playing a game of exploding snap. "Why'd you knock?" James asked looking up at them.

"Laura thought you were doing the nasty." Heather said plopping down on the chair next to the couch.

Laura's eyes widened and she walked over. "I did not!" She exclaimed pouting. "It's just polite!"

Sirius raised an eyebrow at her as he was started by the cards in front of him exploding. "Well, anyway have you guys seen Rem yet? He had a job interview today; I wanna know how it went."

"Oh yeah that's right!" Laura said sitting up. "I really hope he gets it, he needs a job. Urg, if my parents were still alive I bet they could help him out." Laura's parents before they were killed by Voldemort were well known werewolf rights supporters. One of the things they did was help werewolves find jobs.

"Couldn't you?" James asked.

Laura shook her head. "No, I never really went to any of the meetings. I mean I helped but I wasn't as passionate I guess you could say, as my parents were. You know, I was only a kid."

"That's true," He mumbled.

"He could get a muggle job like Andy and Lily." Heather suggested.

Sirius laughed. "No, his pride wouldn't let him; he'd rather starve then abandon what he's good at for a muggle job."

"Hey," James said offended.

"Not that Lily or Andy for that matter've abandoned what they're good at." Sirius added quickly.

"Yeah, but you are right Heather, he could just get a muggle job, he knows muggle devices, heh, better then me anyway." James said with a smile.

"So, Heather," Sirius grinned changing he subject. "You were getting awfully chummy with Chris earlier." He grinned.

"Don't think anything about it, he's a dumb ass." She said folding her arms across her chest.

"Well you do like them dumb." James said with a smile.

Heather raised an eyebrow and looked at him.

_Heather (still in a speaking tone)_

I like them dumb you say

But let us recall

Who I've been with

She began to sing.

There weren't many I'll admit

But I know one whom your description fits

He was dumb and arrogant as I recall

Shall I say his name allowed

_James_

I don't know what you're talking about

_Heather_

Oh of course you do

There was that time in fourth year

You remember don't you dear

_Sirius_

Prongs what's she saying

_Heather_

You don't know?

He was the dumbest man I can remember

He was a Quidditch player

And had three good wanker friends

He had fame

He was a name

Do you remember what he was called?  
I do

His.

Name.

Was.

James Potter!

_Sirius_

You two went out

Why didn't I know?

James how could you

She hated me, the bitch

And I'm not a wanker

_Heather_

You are a wanker

And a faker

But yeah

Before Lily was in the picture

James and I had a thing

_Laura_

I thought we were friends

How come I never knew?

And how did you hide it

James is a prick

In the head he's sick

He tells everyone of his shags

_James_

That's a lie

A dirty lie

I'm noble

I can be secretive

_Sirius_

No you can't

You're a prat

You brag more then me

But why didn't you tell me

_Laura_

Why didn't you tell me?

_Sirius, Laura_

Why didn't you tell us?

_Heather_

Sirius you're being a git

Laura you're being a git

It was over four years ago

Why can't you just get over it?

_Sirius_

This is big news

_James_

Just don't tell Lily

She would kill me

_Laura_

I don't like to lie

_James_

If she does not ask

You tell no lie

And therefore

I will not die

_Heather_

I don't care if you say a word

_James_

Please don't!

I'm too young to die

Sirius sighed and the music came to an end. "Fine, I won't say anything; cuz if you died them I would get depressed and kill myself then Remus would mentally break down and live in a little cave in the woods then Peter wouldn't be able to function any longer and he would be committed to St. Mungo's." He said.

"Took a long time to say nothing." Heather stated.

"Heard that before," Sirius said with a grin.

The door opened and a short boy walked in, he had on a grin as he bounded over to the couch and plopped next to the boys. "Hey!" Peter exclaimed. "I got off for the next couple of days; unless they call me in for something that is."

"That's great, Wormy." Heather said with a smile.

"Yeah, maybe now we can do things as The Marauders again. Haven't played a group prank in forever," Sirius said, "What say you, Mr. Prongs? Should we play a prank with our long lost brother here, Mr. Wormtail?"

"I believe we shall, Mr. Padfoot, the second Mr. Moony arrives we should begin our planning."

"Shouldn't be long," Peter said. "I think I saw him walking up to the building from my window before I came in here... He didn't look good."

"Oh I hope it's not the job," Sirius sighed.

Laura gasped and covered her mouth with her hand for a moment. "What about his sister wasn't he seeing her today? Oh I hope she's in good health."

Then the door opened startling them all and they saw Remus walk in hands in the pockets of his pants. His eyes were downcast. James stood up and walked over to him, sensing something was wrong. "Hey, Moony, you okay?"

"How'd the interview go?" Sirius asked.

"I didn't get it." Remus said.

"Well how do you know, maybe you did." Laura said hopefully.

Remus shook his head and took a seat next to James and Sirius on the couch. "No, I didn't the people there acted like I would transform at that second and attack them."

"Well, no offense, Moony, but shouldn't you be used to it?" Peter asked hesitantly.

Sirius turned to him and hit him on the head. "Pete!"

"No... No... Siri he's right. I should be, but just these people were the worst. Normally people just shy away from me, give my looks, try to uphold a conversation through everything, but these people were just the worst. It wasn't that they said things but it was the disgust and loathing in their eyes." Remus said leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "It just gets me kinda mad..."

"We can tell." Sirius said.

"Huh?" Remus said looking at him with confused eyes. "How?"

"You may be good at holding in your anger, Remus, but your eyes betray you. They're amber." Laura said when Remus got particularly frustrated, angry or any feeling gets very strong his blue eyes faded into a brilliant wolfish amber.

"Urg," Remus rubbed his eyes. "Why can't they just stay blue, why are they so stupid!"

"Wow, your eyes have minds of their own?" Heather asked with mock fascination. "And they're stupid? But I think that's pretty fair considering they are eyes."

"Shut up." Remus sighed and leaned back running his hand through his hair.

James studied his friend a little longer and bit his lip not sure if he should say anything. "Rem, is that all you want to tell us?" He asked.

Remus looked at them all with worried and expecting faces. He looked down and began chewing on the inside of his cheek. "Umm... well its Charlotte, she's um... she's..."

If you watched closely you could see the amber in Remus's eyes flicker around and glow as he stared at the coffee table. Sirius reached over and placed his hand on his shoulder, silently telling him he didn't have to say anything more.

"Um... I forgot to... I just remembered... I gotta go." Remus said getting up and failing to make a good excuse. He walked out the door and just as he stepped out Andy and Lily who had just arrived back stood in the doorway looking bewildered.

"What happened?" Andy asked.

Lisa: Mmmmm... Remy! (hugs Remus)

Heather: ... yeaaaaah...

Lisa: (not letting go of Remus) okay guys I feel pretty confident that you've all read or know what happened in book seven so I'm gonna now say why I was so upset a few chapters back.

Heather: Spoiler warning to those who haven't read.

Lisa: It was the fate of my sexy Remy Lupin! And my sexy Freddy Weasley! On the page there are actually little circles of gray where I cried and my makeup smeared. Oh my Lord I haven't cried so much since Sirius's death. It still pains me to think about my Moony...

Heather: ...There, there...

Lisa: Silence minion, okay guys review and I'm sorry for not having too many songs but to make up for it I might have a few more in the next chapter.


	23. Voldemort's Destruction

Lisa: Sorry, haven't been able to write for five days, been over my friends house. How one night turned to five days I will never know. Lucky for me I've known her for fifteen years and I come prepared for that sort of thing.

Heather: I know what that's like...

Lisa: Yeah... You'll stay over there for weeks. Like a black hole... just sucks you in...

Heather: I do not stay there for weeks... just a week.

Lisa: Riiiiiiight...

Voldemort's Destruction

Andy walked out of their apartment with a sad look on her face. The Marauders and the Marauderetts have been out there for over an hour waiting. They told Andy and Lily what happened when they came back. Andy immediately went in there to comfort him.

Laura had kindly agreed to reverse the spell as amusing as it was this was not the time for any of them to break out in song and dance. The spell may have been meant to spread some cheer, make people smile but there were some things a show tune couldn't fix. So when she came back they just sat in the hallway, some of them fell asleep since it was now technically night.

Andy cleared her throat as she stepped into the hallway and looked around. Heather was leaning against the wall with a deck of cards and flicking them into the plant across from her, she stopped when she saw Andy. Lily and James were in each others arms, Lily had fallen asleep but James was awake and stroking her hair. When he noticed the female werewolf he nudged his girlfriend and she looked up. Peter was sitting on the floor fraying the edge of his robes and chewing on his bottom lip, he stopped biting his lip but continued to keep his hands busy when she entered. Now Laura and Sirius, was a bit of an awkward situation. Both of them had fallen asleep, Sirius first then Laura, sometime in her sleep she had fallen over and now her head was lying on Sirius's chest. It reminded Andy of their school days when the two were a couple.

After she cleared her throat once again the two woke up and looked around, embarrassed by the situation they were in. "Sorry... Didn't mean too..." Laura said sitting up and placing her back firmly against the wall.

"Quite alright..." Sirius mumbled and crossed his arms across his chest. "So Andy, any news on Moony?"

She shook her head and took a seat next to Heather. "He's barley talking... Urg, why does all this shit have to happen at once?" She asked referring to his father, the job and now his dying sister.

"Because life blows." Heather sighed.

"You sure you couldn't get him to say anything? Or he didn't mumble anything you missed..." James asked sitting up straighter as Lily took some of her weight off him.

"I tried James, he's not talking, but if ya fancy a go..." Andy trailed off and motioned her hand toward the door of their home.

"Oh, I dunno if I should. You can usually get anything out of him." He said.

"I wish I could go down to that office and show them a thing or two, show them that werewolves aren't the worst of their worries." Sirius growled. "Then go find his daddy, beat a little bit of sense into the git."

"I'll give you a hand there." Peter said. "You don't mess with the Marauders."

"Got that straight." James sighed.

Lily looked over to her friend and hesitated before speaking. "Andy, did he say anything? Anything at all?"

She let out a breath slowly as she fell back against the wall. "He babbled about how it was his entire fault for a bit, I shot those dead, or I hope I did. Not the first time somethin' like that has come up. He uh, he said that his entire family is leaving all over again. Told him it wasn't true, he didn't respond. I kinda just hugged him after that... he cried..." She said.

"Has to be hard." Sirius said remembering how his family was toward him.

"It is... losing someone you love..." Laura said thinking back.

"I wish there was something we could do to help." Lily said leaning her head on James's shoulder.

James shook his head. "There isn't, we can't pretend to know what he's going through, we can't stop him from thinking things, we just have to let him know we're here for him. And I'm pretty sure he knows that."

"He does." Sirius said. "He has to know."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

In St. Mungo's hospital the young blue eyed woman sat in her bed, her father right by her side. She was visibly weakening; she was pale as death and had dark circles around her sunken in eyes. Her lips were turning blue and her bones looked like they were bursting out of her waxy skin. No one would guess she was once a youthful, hyper, happy girl. But through all this she managed to keep a smile on her face and keep talking.

"Dad... I wish you would go talk to Remus." She said in a hoarse voice.

He shook his head. "Darling, you know I can't do that... I don't even know why you want something like him around. Honestly it's a bit disturbing to have a..." he stopped himself and looked up at Charlotte fearfully. "I – I mean..."

She sat up a little. "Oh my God... what were about to say? Were you about to say werewolf? I can't believe it, Remus was right about you. You don't care about him at all, the only reason you talk to him is because you're forced to. You really do hate him."

"Well darling, who wouldn't? He's a nice lad I suppose but he's a dark creature, a menace to our society. They shouldn't be here."

Charlotte looked at him in disgust. "So this is the reason we never went back? This is the reason you kept me from my mum, brother and sister? All because of your prejudice and hatred for your own son?"

"He's not my son, my son would be human."

"Your son is your son and you should accept him for who he is, not what he is. Besides, it's your fault Greyback bit him in the first place." She said glaring at him with fire in her tired eyes. "If you hadn't pissed him off none of this would have happened."

"Don't you dare blame this on me." He said clenching his teeth.

"But it was, you were the one who insulted him, I know you didn't mean too but it was you. And you know what Remus didn't hate you for it; he still loved you after it." She said shaking her head. "Why couldn't you still love him...?"

The looked away and stood up. " Charlotte, you don't understand."

"What is there to understand?" She asked. "You left and you took me with you and you took me away from my family to be with you." It never really all occurred to her, not until now, all the horrible things her father had done. All the lies he fed her, now after being reunited and talking with Remus, her mother and sister did she realize what a git he actually was. "You would have taken Daina too, but her age prevented it. You would have just left mum and Remus. They would never have made it on their own, thank Merlin for Daina."

"I couldn't let him spoil my reputation; I have an image to keep." He said with a soothing voice. He was trying to make her see things from his point of view.

"Oh and abandoning your family makes your image so much better?" She asked.

"Darling – "

"Leave, I don't want anything more to do with you and your lies and prejudice. Remus was right about you, mum was right, Daina was right. Everyone was right, you only care for yourself, and you don't care about anybody or anything." After her short speech her voice was beginning to give away from all the talking she was doing. This only further proved her point, if he truly loved her then he would have told her to stop talking it wasn't helping or he would have offered something to drink for it.

He straightened up and turned on his heal and left the room. Charlotte was left behind staring at the wall, her emotionless façade didn't last long, soon she was crying. She didn't know why, she was glad to be rid of the evil man she called father but it also tore her heart open.

She wasn't sure how long she was left alone until there was a knock at her door. She let out a muffled come in and she dried her eyes quickly looking up, the door opened and a short woman walked in with a scarf still lingering around her neck, she was older then herself but still youthful. She had bright blue eyes and blond hair.

"Daina..." She said as her sister took a seat on the edge of her bed.

"I heard what you did to father, one of the healers, they didn't mean to eaves drop they were coming in to check on you and they heard. He told me, and I can't tell you how happy I am that you finally saw it. But I'm so sorry it had to happen this way." Daina said softly.

"I'm not, I'm glad I was able to tell the git off before I die." Charlotte said with a smile.

Daina shook her head. "No, you're not going to die."

"Yes I am..." She replied. "I know it, I've accepted it. I'm so incredibly happy that before I go I was able to see my family once again. You've all turned out so great, I'm so glad that you've all managed, and that Rem went to Hogwarts!" She exclaimed as best she could with her failing voice.

"He's so upset you know." Her sister replied. "I got an owl from his friends not too long ago. They said he wouldn't speak to anybody and he's crying... it's just horrible. He won't even speak to Andromeda."

"I want him to come back."

"But he won't, he doesn't want to see this."

"I want him back." Charlotte said. "He's my baby brother, we were best friends and I love him so much. I want to see him one last time."

"I'll see what I can do." Daina said.

"Oh and please, I want my funeral before Christmas, rush it if you have too but I don't want it anywhere after the holidays. I don't need any of you worrying."

Daina looked confused. "How are you so sure you'll...?"

"I know, trust me, I won't last the rest of the week." Charlotte said with a sad smile.

This worried Daina though, it worried her because it was Thursday, and the week wasn't that long anymore. "Alright, I'll see what I can do." She murmured.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Remus sat in his room on him and Andy's bed. His back up against the backboard and one leg pulled up while the other dangled off the edge. Andy had jet a little while ago, he was thankful she didn't send anyone in to 'comfort' him, he didn't need it. He just needed to rest, and to think. Maybe if he tried hard enough this would all go away. Maybe if he got hold of a time turner he could go back in time and change things but he knew that wasn't possible.

He couldn't return to his normal life now. Now that he knew his sister had died, now that his father returned and now Remus knew for a fact he truly did despise him. Nothing was going to be the same.

As he got lost in his thoughts he was roughly pulled out of them by a large crash on the side of the building. At first it sounded like an earthquake but it was over as quick as it began and another one hit. Remus bolted up off the bed and ran too the door, he was met halfway by James who had come in for him.

"James! What's goin' on!?" He cried as he met him in the kitchen.

James shook his head and they jogged back out to the hallway. "Dunno, but I think its death eaters. Think they're attacking the building."

"Why would they attack here?"

"For the muggles maybe? The muggle borns? I dunno." James said and they reached the hallways to see all of them with their wands pulled out looking around.

"Is everyone okay?" Remus asked as he saw everyone on their guard.

"For now, yeah." Sirius said looking around. "We should try and find them."

"Shouldn't we call someone?" Laura asked with a panicked look on her face, here eyes wide and scared.

"Like who? The Order?" Heather cried with a forced laugh. "Wake up, Lar, who the hell are we?"

They heard screams in the building and a man screaming his hate for muggles. "Oh yeah," Lily said looking around trying to decipher where the screams were coming from. "Defiantly a Voldemort attack."

"Then let's go, try and find them." Andy said. "Two groups, four and four."

"Great, okay" James said and looked around the hall at everyone. "Okay, um, Sirius, Andy, Laura and Pete you go that way." James pointed to one end of the hall. "Take the upper floors, the rest of us will go this way and take the bottom ones."

"Sounds like a plan." Andy said and the two split up to go their separate ways.

"Hey!" Sirius yelled out as he turned around one last time to James's group. "Good luck, mate." He said and James nodded.

"Thanks, you too."

"Thanks." Sirius replied and they went to go investigate.

James wandered down the stairs onto the floor below them and had a look around. It looked like most of the people had cleared out of the building; either that or they were dead. James prayed it wasn't the latter; he didn't need that on his conscience. They made no noise as they walked down the hall with their wands drawn and ready.

"Where are they...?" Lily moaned.

"I dunno..." James said. "Waiting I guess."

"For what?" Lily asked him looking up.

"Us." He replied.

Heather let out a sigh, she was in the back, had killer aim when she had to turn around and shoot. She always took up the back. She just hoped no one decided to sneak up behind her and jinx her while her back was turned. That wouldn't exactly be fair, but wince where were death eaters ever fair?

"You guys hear that?" Remus asked.

"Hear what?" Heather said looking around for the thing Remus heard.

"Nothing, there's no noise. No people, no talking, no pets, no nothing." Remus sighed. "Everything's still."

"Maybe they got out in time." Lily hoped.

"Merlin I hope so." He said. "Heather, be on your toes."

"Already am."

"Bloody hell." James breathed and out of the corner of his eye he saw the familiar death eater hood creep out from a corner. "_Stupefy!_" He cried knocking the death eater out. "There all around us! Get ready to fight!" He yelled as all the Voldemort supporters jumped out of the rooms, corners and every other hiding place.

"Blimey!" Heather cried as she was forced against a wall from all the spells pushing her back. "_Protego!_"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Elsewhere in the building none of the commotion was heard, they were already two floors above them. Sirius was leading the group, his wand at the ready, his Auror training taking over for him. The others behind him weren't doing so well. Andy was the best, with here werewolf abilities she was able to be stealthy, being smart, for once in Sirius's opinion, she took off her chain wallet. She was actually being quiet. Laura and Peter on the other hand were a bit in a nervous wreck. Laura could be brave and powerful in a full blown battle, but while she was in a quiet room, not knowing where the bad guys were she was a little jumpy. Peter was breathing hard, he had gotten considerably better at spell and jinxes over the years but he was loud when he walked.

"Sirius, where do think they are?" Andy asked.

"I dunno, but I bet they're close." He said.

"How d'you know?" Laura asked looking at him with fearful brown eyes.

"I just do."

"I hope they come out soon, I don't like this whole secreti –" Peter said but was sharply cut off mid sentence. Sirius turned around only to see a solid wall made by some sort of spell.

"Laura!" Andy cried and ran to it putting her hands up on it. "Laura, can you hear me!"

"Sh." Sirius said and put his hand over her mouth. "Damn, they're everywhere..." he mumbled. "Run, c'mon we have to run!" he said and grabbed her hand and he ran down the hallways dragging her behind her.

"Is it just me or does this seem familiar?" Andy said between breaths as she ran. "Ya know, you draggin' me down a dark corridor, being chased by some unseen evil. You're not going to snog me again are you?"

"'Course not." Sirius said. "Just keep running, we're not strong enough to take them all on now, there's a lot of them."

They turned the corner and opened up a door to run up a flight of stairs. "This new Sirius," Andy said as she was flung around the banister to start climbing them, he had still not relinquished his hold on her. "Kinda like him, shows you're not a complete and total git."

"Oh I'm insulted." Sirius said as they arrived at the next floor. He turned around and locked the door securely with his wand. "Come on that outta buy us some time."

"What'd you do?" She asked looking at the door.

"Charmed the lock, they can't get in unless they break it down."

Andy sighed. "Well that won't be too hard... urg! Sirius we can't just keep running! We have to fight them!"

"Yeah, eventually, but not now. There's too many."

"So we're leaving them there for Laura and Wormy to take care of!? They'll die!" Andy said as she followed Sirius down the corridor and to another flight of stairs she presumed.

"No, I'm trying to think. If we took this flight of stairs down then we could probably meet up with them on the other side." Sirius said, he may be a bit thick and a joker at times, but when he was placed in a situation where he had to live up to his name and be serious he could. He's been told during Auror training he had amazing potential to be Head Auror.

"And when we met up with them we can fight the death eaters they ran into on the other side and then bring it back up and take care of these wankers." Andy said with a grin. "Sirius I love you."

"Feelings mutual." Sirius said as they ran down the stairs. Only when they reached the bottom they weren't met up with Laura and Peter. They were met up with some very angry looking people in black robes and masks.

"Crud." Andy said as she raised her wand.

"_Stupefy_!" Sirius yelled as he began the battle.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no..." Laura repeated as she looked at the wall in front of her. "We're stuck, stuck away from Andy and Sirius, what are we going to do?"

Peter looked around and tried to think of a plan. "Okay, let's try and find the others. They went downstairs right? So maybe if we go down there we can find them."

"Pete... I think we should move." Laura said as she eyed the darkness around her. "Like now."

"Think you're right." He said and the pair walked down the hallway at a fats pace with their wands ready in front of them.

"They could be anywhere." Laura said as they reached the stairs to go down.

Peter tried to open the door but he couldn't. "S'locked." He stared and pointed his wand at it. After unlocking the door he opened it to be faced with a battle scene. "Oh no..." He said and saw Andy and Sirius fighting on the stairwell.

"We have to help them!" Laura cried as she jumped forward and began firing spells at the intruders.

The battled raged on for several minutes as the four younger Order of the Phoenix members fought. The death eaters weren't many, each one of them had tow or three and that they could handle. Especially Sirius who was trained to fight more then one opponents at once.

"Laura?" Andy asked as she noticed the familiar brown haired girl fighting along side of her.

"Hi." She said before firing a spell.

Andy looked around and spotted Peter down the stairs a little bit, as she was fighting she managed to creep up them. "Do you know where the others are?" She asked Laura.

"No, we were – _STUPEFY _– going to find them but then we ran into you two on the stairwell." Laura said. "Good thing we did too."

"I'll say." Andy said as she clotheslined one of the death eaters who had lost their wand and was running to get it back.

Sirius finished off the last of them and he looked around. "Right... maybe we should try and stick together a little better..." He said breathing hard from the short battle.

"Wow, wonderful conclusion." Andy said sarcastically. "So where too? Try and find the others? Maybe they ran into some death eaters as well." She suggested.

The Auror in training shook his head. "No, James can take care of himself, besides he has Remus with him. Kid's a genius." Sirius said. "Let's just try and go up a few levels there might be people trapped up there, not all of them are magical." He said.

"Oh my God, new Sirius is awesome." Laura said.

"I know, right?" Andy grinned as they all ran up the flights of stairs.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Downstairs Remus had fought off the various death eaters and he was standing in the doorway of the building. They had gotten several people out, they were muggles and now some ministry officials were altering their memories of the incident. He had seen several go up to the top floors to try and met up with his friends. He hoped they were alright, but it was just a small attack. Not many deaths, but the thing that killed him was the fact there were deaths.

The building was almost completely destroyed. The two top floors were utterly blown apart and the few ones under it, including their own floor, wouldn't be livable for a few months until it was rebuilt. No one would want to live here anymore anyways, or at least no magical people. It was because of the thing that floated above the ruined building. The dark mark.

James walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You okay, Moony?"

"M'fine, James..." Remus said not taking his eyes off the apparently interesting spot on the wall he was staring at across the street.

"Look, I'm sure they're all fine."

"I know..."

"Mr. Lupin?" An Auror asked as he walked up to the two boys.

Remus blinked as he tore his eyes away and looked at the man. "That's me."

"Mr. Lupin I'm sorry to tell you this, especially in this crisis –" The Auror began but was cut off by Remus.

"Just tell me!" He said closing his eyes and gritting his teeth.

"I'm sorry Sir, but your sister Charlotte has died."

Lisa: Lets all have a moment of silence... moment... moment... moment... OKAY! Done! So glad I never became too attached to her character.

Steph: Tell them the good news.

Lisa: Yes! I got a deviantART account. So if anyone has an account or just wants to check out some of my pictures, I have a few to go with this story and more coming, go use the link on my profile and say hi!

Heather: Does anything else have to be said...?

Lisa/Steph: (shrug)

Lisa: Probably when I started but not now... I dun remember...


	24. Now What

Lisa: Okay people, important note, school is starting in less then a week, it sucks I know! But that also means slower updates, and I'll be in the fall play so that also takes more time out of my schedule.

Heather: But this story will keep getting updated!

Lisa: Yes! So enjoy this chapter and I'll be back at the end.

Now What

Sirius started walked out of the building, Andy, Peter and Laura behind him. There were tears in Laura's eyes as she looked up at their destroyed home with the dark mark hovering over it. Andy noticed this and put her arm around her shoulder, a little clueless on what to say, or even if to say anything.

They spotted their four friends in the parking lot, an Auror walking away from Remus and James. They saw James wrap his arms around Remus as the blue eyed boy began to cry. Sirius looked back at the people behind him and they all knew it just couldn't be from what had just happened. The Auror must have just told him something, something bad. There was really only one thing that they could have told Remus to make him break down like that.

Sirius sighed and walked over to them and becoming part of the hug, Peter also walked over and joined them. Andy and Laura decided to stay at out of it for the moment and walked over to where Heather and Lily were getting checked out by the Aurors for anything that may be wrong.

"Hey," Heather said noticing her two ex-dorm mates walking over.

"Hey," Andy said sitting down next to her and letting the Aurors cast spells over her. "So, did it really happen? Did Charlotte...?"

Lily nodded and got up when then Aurors were finished, letting Laura take her seat and get looked over. "The Auror just told him a minute ago, it was horrible." She said. "Oh my God, what are we gonna do? We lost our homes, all of them." She said pacing back and forth. "We have no where to go."

"What about your parents? I'm probably going move back in with mine for a while until I can get a new flat." Heather said shrugging. "Or until they fix this one. Fire wasn't too bad; most of our stuff was saved."

"I could never move in with my parents." Lily said, "Petunia hates me."

"What? I thought you two were best friends." Andy said with a furrowed brow.

"We were, we were, but I dunno, ever since I started dating James and been able to use magic around her she's been bitter. Then when I moved in with James she just seemed to hate me." Lily said folding her arms and looking down.

"I'm sure she doesn't hate you." Laura soothed.

"But she does!" She cried and threw her arms in the air, "I don't know what's wrong with her."

"Whatever it is I'm sure she'll get over it." Heather said waving away the wand that was invading her personal space. "You could just move in with James, you know. At his parent's house."

Lily bit her lip. "Oh, but won't that be a bit crowded? I'm sure James is moving back there for a while and then with Sirius also going back there... that seems like an awfully large amount of people." She said looking down and playing with a stray red curl.

"I'll probably stay with them too," Laura said raising her hand and giving a small smile. "Ya know, we are relatives and all, they said if I ever need a place to stay I'm welcome."

Lily moaned and tossed her head back.

"Have ya seen the size of their house?" Andy said getting up when they finished with her. "It's gigantic! He is a rich pure blood, he's like as rich as they come."

Heather nodded. "As much as it pains me to say, Andy's actually right, don't worry about it. They have the biggest house in the world, and Mr. and Mrs. Potter always welcome in their home little stray dogs... like Sirius."

"Speak of the devil." Laura said and pointed to Sirius who was walking over alone, the rest of the boys were being looked over by another set of Aurors.

"How is he?" Andy asked standing up, her positive attitude whipped away.

Sirius shook his head. "Not great, James's is with him now; Peter's just kind of standing there. Never was his best subject, comforting people. But I think he'll be okay, in a bit."

"Should I... you know..." Andy said with an unsure look and pointing over to where James and Remus were.

Shaking his head Sirius said, "No, no, no, probably best just t leave him with Prongs for now. I came over here to ask you ladies where you planed on staying. I'm sending an owl to mum and dad." By that he meant Mr. and Mrs. Potter. "Will any of you be joining us over there?"

"I will," Laura voiced.

"Me too, I guess." Lily sighed.

Sirius wrote down their names on a piece of parchment and called his owl over, who was flying in the sky waiting for him. "Send this to the Potter's house." He told the black owl. "And be quick about it." he watched the owl fly off into the sky before turning back to the girls. "They also said that they put up enough charms to keep the place steady for another few hours so we can go in and get some of our stuff."

"Alright." Lily said and the five of them made their way up to their apartments.

They had to illuminate their wands in order to see their way. It was horrible in the building, the walls were charred and burnt, and the smell of smoke and ash was lingering in the air. When they arrived at their own floor Laura and Heather went over to their apartment to determine the damage. Andy went to her and Remus's home, and Sirius went to his.

He opened the door to his flat and walked in, his feet crunching under the charred furniture and floors. He sighed when he saw that most of his expensive velvet furniture was ruined, his whole bachelor pad was ruined. He walked into his room and took out a trunk, his old Hogwarts trunk, it had a charm on it, and no fire could penetrate it.

Wandering through the room he picked up several of the framed photos that were saved form the fire. They were pictures of the marauders, of them in school, the good days, when they didn't have to worry about finding a place to live or an income. After he picked up all the photos he wandered over to his closet and started rummaging through the clothes, all of which were now slightly ruined.

He managed to find some that were saved form the fire, in fact a good portion of them were. He thanked Merlin for that; most of his clothes got a lot of money. Dragging the trunk into the next room he picked up random things and threw them in, he pretty much took anything that wasn't a black piece of coal.

Sirius sighed looking around the dark room that was once so full of life. He remembered sitting in this room, waiting for his birthday cake. Sitting in this room, on his couch snogging with the hottest girl at the club, or doing other things on the couch with the hottest girl in the club...

There so many memories he would no longer have here. Granted he had only lived here for a year but it was his first home. The first home he could call his own. He looked over at a table near the door where he saw his gloves, sunglasses and the keys to his bike. He took them, and turned his back on the apartment, thinking he would quite possibly break down in he stood in there another minute.

He turned down the hall and plopped his trunk down before walking into Andy's flat. He figured she could use some help, after all she was cleaning out for two, and she was only one.

"Andy?" He asked and walked in looking around.

"Bedroom." He heard.

Walking in he saw Andy with two trunks, one had clothes and the other had items in it. One of them Sirius recognized right away as Remus's, it had letter's on it that spelled out R.J.L. "How're you fairing?" he asked.

She sighed. "Good... good... these are the times I thank God we don't have much money to buy too much stuff. If we did then it would all be burned." She smirked. "How about you?" She asked packing some clothes away. "How was your stuff?"

"Ruined." He moaned and fell onto the bed making ash fly up around him and make him cough. "Bleh, all ruined."

"Can't be that bad." She said. "You got some of it right? Not a total loss."

"Yeah, guess you're right."

"Laura! I need water! Now!" They heard Heather yell from their apartment, the two of them burst from the one they were in and bolted to Laura and Heather's.

"What? Why? Is something on fire?" Laura screamed as she grabbed some bottled water from the burnt fridge.

"No!" Heather yelled back taking the water and rushing into her own room. "Bob's dying!"

Sirius and Andy raised an eyebrow each and slowly exchanged a glance.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Remus sat in an office at the ministry with his mother and sister, his father was nowhere to be seen. They were sorting out his sisters things, she had written a will and they were waiting for Remus's father to come before they could go over it. The Auror was eyeing Remus, as much as he tried not to, he still was and Remus could tell so he was glaring at him.

"I promise you, we'll start just as soon as Mr. Lupin arrives." He said.

Remus's mother shook her head. "He's not coming, trust me, and let's just do this, please."

The man nodded. "In your daughters last days she did decide to write out a will, it's not official but she did sign it and Aurors had confirmed it was written and signed by her own hand. You three are the only ones she leaves anything to." He said with a furrowed brow. "There's nothing in here about your husband at all..."

"He's not my husband." Remus's mother said sharply.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, now according to your daughters will, she left most of her money to her only brother, Remus." He said looking up at the young werewolf.

Remus smirked and looked down; of course she would leave him money. She knew he was in pretty bad shape financially.

He continued. "To her sister, she left her pet dog."

Daina laughed a little out loud, she had told her sister how much she loved dogs and she often went away to Charlotte's house to take care of the little thing.

"Her mother, she leaves her house to do with it what she wishes. She also only leaves one request not to mourn her on Christmas; she wants you all to have fun." He said. "In the letter she wrote she also requests to be buried as soon as possible."

"I'm not sure we can afford a funeral." Their mother said looking worried. "We're barley scrapping by with what we have now."

The man sighed. "You could take out some sort of loan, or a mortgage maybe."

She nodded. "I can try, could we come back later? I can try and work all this out..." She said putting her hand to her head.

"Of course we can, I'm terribly sorry. It's terrible when a loved one dies, especially one so young."

She nodded and proceeded to talk to the man about the cost of a funeral and when they could come back. While she was doing this, Remus and Daina slipped out of the room.

"Remus, what are we gonna do?" Daina said sitting down on one of the chairs out in the waiting room. "Mum doesn't have the sort of money to cover this, I certainly can help but I don't know how much help I would be."

"I can help." Remus said sitting down across from her.

She smiled slightly. "Rem, you're sweet, but you don't have the money. You need to find a new house for Merlin's sake."

"I'll manage." He mumbled.

She put her hands on his shoulders and made him look her in the eye. "No, you won't, you and I both know you can't afford it. Remus you could barley afford the flat you had. Just leave it too us, we can handle it. She knew you had money problems and that's why she left you money, so go use it to find you and Andy a nice house somewhere."

Remus grinned. "Andy and I?"

"Well yeah, you love her, she loves you, tie the bloody knot already." Daina smiled and Remus as about to respond but their mother walked in the room dabbing her eyes with a tissue.

"Oh... mum." Daina said walking over and pulling her mother in a hug. "It's gonna be alright."

She cried on Daina's shoulder for a few moments before pulling back and whipping her eyes. "Oh... oh I'm sorry, look at me..."

"Its okay Mum." Remus said walking over and putting an arm around her.

"No it's not, everything's just falling apart."

Remus looked down and sighed, she was right. Everything was falling apart.

"Why don't you two go home." Daina said, looking at their tired faces and giving them a sympathetic smile. Remus was staying at his mother's house in his old room; Andy was at her own mother's house. They thought it would be easier then both of them being a burden to one family. "You both look like you could use some rest."

Remus nodded. "Come on, mum," he said putting his arm around her shoulders again and leading her over to the fireplace. "I'll see you soon, Daina."

"You too, bye Mum." She said and Apparated back to her home, Remus thought it would probably be best not to Apparate with his mother in the state she was in.

They arrived back at the house within seconds and Remus stepped out after his mother who had plopped herself down on the couch the second she got back home. He made his way toward the nearby kitchen where he remembered doing his summer homework so many times and grinned at the ink stain he made on the table in his third year. "So, mum, what do you want for dinner?"

"Oh, Remus sweetheart don't bother yourself with it. We can order out, or I'll make something real quick." She said standing up from the couch.

"There's no need to really, I can cook just fine, someone had to in the house, and Merlin knows Andy can't."

"So, are you going to try and find another flat or are you looking to buy a house?" His mother asked changing the subject away from what was really at the upfront of her mind.

Remus shrugged. "I dunno, I suppose I'd like a house. Cottage maybe, near the woods, it just seems more adult then a flat. You know I'm almost an adult now, hell I am an adult by wizard standards."

"Remus! Language!" His mother scolded.

"Sorry, mum." He said rolling his eyes and walking over to the cabinet to get something out to make. "Go on, take a nap or something, I'll call you when dinner's ready."

She walked over to her son and put a hand on his jaw line, looking at him in the eyes. "You really have grown up so much since you left home." She said. "You make me proud, Remus. I hope you know that." She smiled at him and then turned around and walked out of the room.

Lisa: Told you I'd be back, next chapter I'll be focusing on the Potter household for those of you who wanted to see some of that so just be patient.

Heather: And read and review Lisa's new story, its time travel.

Lisa: Yes, its fun, the Marauderetts are in it, but not nearly as much as the boys. Also be warned if you do read it you will be getting spoilers for the end of this story.

Heather: So don't read if you wanna be surprised.

Lisa: Yes!


	25. Full House

Lisa: Okay guys four day weekend coming up, but I have some plans; I'll try and get this out.

Heather: Try... the word that means won't.

Lisa: Does not, but I'm going over my friends house later today and then I'm going to go see Phantom of the Opera in New York. I love that show, this would be the second time me seeing it. But last I saw it I was like eleven so I don't really remember it too well.

Heather: Yay! But that's three days out of the four day weekend taken so...

Lisa: Yeah...

Full House

Heather returned to her house, or to be more precise her parents house, late in the evening. Today had been the funeral for Remus's sister, Charlotte; one week ago today she had died. She had to admire how Remus was handling it, he went up and he spoke for her, their mother and sister did. But that was it. She never realized before how small his family was. It was him, Daina their mother, what looked like an aunt and uncle, maybe a few cousins but they were young and they looked a bit out of place.

However one thing she did notice throughout his family was their eyes. All of them a striking blue, save for a woman who she met that had married into the family and an old man who looked to have married into the Lupin family as well. Some of the relatives she wanted to hit, some gave Remus disapproving looks, like he shouldn't be there, at his own sisters funeral. Maybe his father wasn't the only prejudice Lupin.

But she was there for him, as well as the rest of their little family. And they were family; they were family in everything but blood. She may have entered the Marauderetts a bit late in the game and true she wasn't dating any of them, anymore that is, she felt just as at home with them as she did with her own family.

She walked into her room quietly not wanting to wake her parents, or the dogs for that matter. She stripped off her black coat and threw it on the nearby chair before plummeting down on her soft bed. It was cold outside, it usually was December nineteenth... it happened so close to the holidays, she hoped maybe the approach of Christmas would cheer Remus up, Christmas was always a fun time for the group.

As well as being a weeks since Charlotte passed it was also a week since their homes were destroyed, okay well not destroyed but it was pretty close. She didn't plan on going back to the apartment complex; she wanted to move somewhere where she didn't pay a rent. An actual home. Her parents weren't thrilled with her moving back in, but they knew she had no other choice.

She could have gone with Andy, her mother would welcome her in but she knew they didn't live off much; she didn't want to stress them when she had other options.

Sighing she kicked off her shoes and laid down on the bed. She was just a little bit drunk. Not enough to have not taken the floo network but not entirely sober either. She fell asleep right there, didn't even bother getting out of the funeral clothes.

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The sunlight poured through her window and into her room, directly on the sleeping face of one Heather Fortresn. She moved her face over and into the pillow, realizing quickly that this was a bad idea; she did after all need air.

Taking a deep breath and pushed herself off the bed and sat up. Looking down she remembered that she still wore her funeral clothes from the day before. She decided it probably wasn't the best idea to re-wear clothes. Especially ones worn to a funeral the previous day.

She wandered off in a still half asleep daze into the bathroom; even though she came in fairly late she was still one of the first ones up. She always was. It must have been around nine o'clock now. Yawning she roamed into the bathroom and remained there for almost and hour. Not all the time was spent in the shower, some was spent staring at herself in mirror waiting for some Tylenol to kick in. When it finally did she wandered out and trudged into her room.

Ten minutes later she came back out and almost fell down the stairs as her dog bolted past her. "Blimey Trigger... what's your rush?"

The white dog ignored her and continued to run down the stairs slobbering everywhere. When she arrived another little bundle of joy ran up to her. The new puppy, Rita, Heather thought it ironic her mother bought the dog home just after she moved out...

"Wanna go out?" She sighed and looked at the two dogs who began jumping up and down excitedly. "Of course you do..."

She opened the door and steadied herself as they both ran out almost knocking her over. Closing it she walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed the gallon of milk from the shelf on the door. She poured herself a glass and waited until the dogs were ready to come in. She did so and wrote a quick note for her mom, telling her she went out for a while.

Grabbing the hoodie from the chair she pulled it on and walked over to the large fireplace. "See ya." She said absent mindedly to the dogs as she threw a hand full of floo powder in and called out James's address. She usually went over there a few times a week, everyone did. It was the 'hang out'.

She appeared in the fire place of their home and stepped out. James's parents were already up, his mother was in the kitchen, and his father was at work. They were going on late in their years; they had James when they were in their forties, one of the reasons why he was an only child.

"Hello, mum." Heather said, she, like everyone else, called them mum and dad rather then Mrs. And Mr. Potter.

The hazel eyed woman turned and smiled when she saw Heather walking in. "Oh! Hello, Heather, you're just in time for breakfast. I have eggs, bacon and waffles." She said as she waved her wand around a little to lift the fried eggs out of the pan.

"My favorite, where is everyone? As I recall Lily and Laura were always up first in the dorm." She said as she helped her clean up the kitchen counter. It was true, Lily was up then Laura would wake up then Heather at around nine to ten o'clock. Andy was last, depending on when she fell asleep... but usually she was up by noon...

"The boys are still sleeping," she rolled her eyes. "However, you are right; the girls are in the garden. Why don't you go get them and wake up the boys for breakfast?"

"Sure thing." She replied happily and left the kitchen.

She walked briskly to the back doors which lead to the backyard. From there they were lead to the garden, the pride and joy or Mrs. Potter. Heather quickly spotted the two girls sitting on a bench bundled up in heavy coats watching icicles fall from the trees. Heather wasn't quite ready for the cold, she had after all flooed here, she saw no need for any boots or a jacket, she was mistaken.

"'Ello!" Heather said brightly as she walked up to them.

Lily looked up first. She was getting used to living at the Potter's, she was like one of the family now. Of course she'd been there before but not this long. Mrs. Potter adored her; she said it was live to have a helping hand around the house rather then two Quidditch obsessed boys. "Oh, hello Heather, I was hoping you would show up today." She said, her breath was showing in the cold.

"Heather!" Laura cried and went over to hug her, her heavy boots kicking up snow as she shuffled through it.

"Oof..." Heather said as the smaller girl gave her a hug. "Please... off... now..."

"Oh, sorry." She said and she and Heather walked back to Lily.

"I was sent out here to tell all of you breakfast is ready and we have to go and wake up James and Sirius." She said rolling onto her heals and onto the balls of her feet.

"They're not awake yet?" Laura asked as she and Lily began walking over to Heather and begin leaving the frozen over garden.

Lily shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Of course not, it's not lunch yet."

The three ladies walked up the flight of stairs to the second story, the Potter house was big and it took them a couple minutes to reach their rooms which shared a door. Something they added in when Sirius moved into their home.

They passed several portraits of past Potters and several decorative things Mrs. Potter had decorated the home with. When they reached the two doors that sat side by side they immediately recognized them as the boy's rooms. One was obvious Sirius, a muggle poster was on the door of a woman in a skimpy outfit leaning over a motorcycle and slightly overlapping it was a wizarding poster of a popular rock band. On James's was a Quidditch poster and there were chipped paint marks next to it where a poster was taken off recently. They had all seen it before; it too showed a picture of a woman muggle model, he took it off when Lily moved in.

They barged in the first room which was James's; Lily crawled on his bed and nudged him on the arm a few times. She didn't stay in the same room with him here; they thought it inappropriate with his parents so close.

"That's _not _how you do it." Heather said firmly and walked over to the bed; she pushed her hands under the mattress and sighed. "This was so much easier when Andy was around." She muttered realizing she could never lift it on her own. "Come on both of you." She said and they both walked over and stuck their hands under the mattress as well.

The three girls heaved and lifted the mattress up; lucky for them James was already rolled near the edge so he fell off easily.

"AH!" He screamed as he hit the floor and shot up quickly in his boxers and t-shirt. He looked around like a startles animal confused and jittery. "What happened?"

"Time to get up, honey." Lily said walking over to him and pecking him on the cheek.

James lifted his hand and scratched his head, he was unfazed by the kiss, he was still very confused. "Uh... Sweetie... did you have to flip my mattress?" He asked Lily.

"Of course." Heather said answering for her and began walking into the next room where Sirius was still lying.

The three people followed her quickly and when they entered the room they saw Sirius sprawled out and lying on his stomach on the bed. He, unlike James, didn't wear a shit when he slept, only his black silk boxers. His hair was standing up straight on his head and a wet stop was forming around his mouth.

"Ew..." Heather moaned. "Laura, you went out with that?" She asked.

"He looked different from the on-the-bed angle..." She said tilting her head to the side and looking at him.

"Okay, if we're going to flip his mattress I'm not touching that." Lily said folding her arms and looking at the bed. "Merlin knows what's been on it."

"He wouldn't bring a girl into my parent's house." James said rolling his eyes.

Heather raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't he?"

James stared at her and then at Sirius for a moment. "Okay so, what do we have to wake him up?" He said without voicing the conclusion he came to, although it was fairly obvious he had to agree with Heather.

"Do we have a fog horn...?" Lily muttered as she carefully walked through the room careful not to touch any of the mess.

Laura smiled as she picked something off of the table." Well... we do have this." She smirked and turned around, showing off the blow horn. "Remember when he wouldn't put this thing down? That was a summer I'll never forget."

The brunette gave it to Heather who smile her thanks and then walked over to the still sleeping figure of Sirius. She pushed the button and a great wind came out of the horn along with an unholy noise. He had, after all, bought it at Zonko's Joke Shop.

Sirius began thrashing in the bed, getting himself tangled in the sheets. The three watched in amusement as after several seconds he ended up on the floor. He poked his head up and looked around. "What's wrong with you?" He asked as he spotted Heather with the joke shop item.

"Oh many, many things." Heather said as she placed the horn down on the night table. "Now put a shirt on, we're going down to breakfast."

"Yeah, no one needs to see any of that." James said as he hopped back into the room pulling on a pair of pants he had grabbed from, possibly the floor, of his room.

Sirius grinned and sat up straight, rubbing his wash board abs with his hands as he stretched. "Oh you're enjoying it." He responded.

"I wish, be down in one minute." She ordered him as she left the room followed by James, Laura and Lily. Sirius was left behind to search the mess of his room for pants and a shirt.

As they made their way down the stairs they smelled the inviting sent of breakfast floating down the hallway. "Sirius better hurry up, I'm not too sure there's gonna be any breakfast left for him." James said dreamily as he smelled his mothers cooking.

"She always makes enough though." Laura said happily. "Sometimes too much."

They walked into the kitchen to see Mrs. Potter placing some plates on the table. She was humming a tune to herself. "Hi, mum." James said as he plopped himself down in his seat. "It looks great."

"Thank you, dear," she smiled and placed a plate in front of him. "Where's Sirius?" She asked looking around.

"A little held up." Lily said rolling her eyes.

"Am not!" Said Sirius as he bounded into the room dressed in black jeans and a muscle shirt, he sat down next to James and Heather and immediately began shoveling food onto his plate. "I'm right here." he said right before he began digging into his full plate.

"What do you kids plan on doing today?" Mrs. Potter asked as she sat down after a minute or two and started eating herself.

James smirked, she still called them kids despite the fact they were far from children anymore. Fighting an ongoing war against a dark wizard proved that. "I dunno, I wanna send a post to Remus, ask how he's holding up."

"No, no, don't do that." She replied. "Just see if he wants to come over, he'll never tell you if you ask. Let him open up on his own. He will when he's ready. He could come over and help us decorate the tree and see if Andy can too; the holidays are just around the corner you know." She smiled.

"I dunno if Andy can come over until later," Heather said between mouthfuls of bacon. "I was talking to her yesterday before she left. Her and the twins are going shopping. Apparently she says that the twins say they never spend time with, and I quote "the bestest little sister in the whole world" anymore."

"And they mean Andy?" Sirius asked raising his eyebrow.

"Be nice." Mrs. Potter scolded. "Alright then, send a post to Remus; send one to Andy a little later." A big grin spread across her face. "Oh we're going to decorate the tree this is so exciting! Before you know it it'll be Christmas! The perfect thing to get all these horrible things out of our minds."

Lisa: Phantom was awesome! Far better then I remembered, but the guy who played Erik, aka the Phantom, wasn't there his understudy was doing the part but he was just as amazing.

Heather: Gone aaaaalllllll day wandering the streets of New York.

Lisa: Yes I was, oh how I love shopping in New York, you find the right store its real cheep.

Heather: But anyway a little while ago me and Lisa were looking for songs that matched the characters in this story. We want a list of all eight of them with the song but we only found two so far...

Lisa: Yes, and if you're interested here they are as follows. The song 'Night Drive' from The All-American Rejects for Andy and the song for Remus is like his wolf half talking to his human half. That song is 'Sad but True' from Metallica. We, or she, came up with some others but they're kinda eh...


	26. Christmas

Lisa: Sorry I'm late but there was a death and all last week has been... ugh...

Heather: Much sadness to be had by all.

Lisa: Yeah, took me a bit to get back in a writing mood, but now I'm back and writing some new chapters. I wanted a Halloween one to get with the season but I failed to think of what season it was about ten chapters ago so now we're doing x-mas, but don't worry I love All Hollow's Eve, I'll have a chapter on it sooner or later.

Heather: Don't forget to review.

Lisa: Cuz that earns you all a cookie.

Christmas

Mrs. Potter hummed Deck the Halls as she danced around the Christmas tree placing new ornaments all over it. She was expecting company tonight; Andy's family was coming as well as Remus's mother and sister. Heather's were offered but they decided to spend Christmas day together and alone, Heather didn't want any more information then that.

But that would make fifteen people and maybe more, Lily's family might come by. Her parents and her sister Petunia which would make eighteen. Right now that was where Lily was, at her parent's house telling them that she wanted to spend the holidays with James and James wanted to stay with his parents who would invite everyone over.

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"Hi mum!" Lily said cheerfully as she walked into her kitchen to see her mother cooking dinner. It was odd, seeing it all done the Muggle way again.

"Oh!" Mrs. Evans turned around whipping her hands on the dish towel and ran over to her daughter. "Oh Lily dear! You're home! I thought I'd never see you again," she smiled as she pulled away. "Let me look at you... you've grown."

"Mum! It's only been a few months." Lily said. "Besides you should know I would be back on Christmas Eve."

Mrs. Evans nodded her head. "I know you would, so how long are you staying?"

"Well..." Lily played with one of her red curls for a moment. "See mum, it's like this. I want to spend the holidays with James, and he wants to stay with his parents. So I was wondering if you would object to going over there and spending the night with them and everything."

"But dear! I always cook Christmas dinner for you, your father and sister! Who by the way insists on spending it with her boyfriend and his family? I honestly don't know what Petunia sees in him but it's her life." Her mother rambled on.

"Don't worry about the cooking," Lily said. "You'll be able to cook; you'll just have to help this year with Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Volk. They're coming too. It'll be a full house this Christmas. Eighteen of us if you all come, well seventeen now that Petunia doesn't want to spend the holidays with us. I swear ever since I've been allowed to use magic outside school she's treated me different."

"Oh dear, that's not true. She loves you; she's just been busy what with her schooling and Vernon... Wait... magic. We'll be the only... what is it? Muggles there? Is that the right term?"

"Yes, mum," Lily smiled. "You and dad will be the only Muggles. But don't worry, Mrs. Volk's father was a Muggle I believe so she knows all about it and Mrs. Potter often doesn't use magic in her cooking of the actual meal. She says it ruins the personal touch."

"Well I suppose it wouldn't be all that bad, I could finally get to know them better, as long as you've been friends with these girls and boys I never met their families. What about the Fortresn's? Oh that's right you said they were going away..." She sighed and thought for a moment. "Oh Sirius's family, are they coming? I would love to meet them."

Lily bit her lip; she had never exactly told her parents that Sirius's parents disowned him. "Well, you see mum, his parents aren't like him."

"What do you mean, dear?"

"Well, mum, okay, to be blunt. They think I'm dirty Muggle trash, they think you're dirty Muggle trash and everyone who doesn't have a pure wizard blood line is trash. They hate us because we're not wizards; they hate Sirius because he ended up in Gryffindor and betrayed his families name by befriending non pure bloods." Lily explained very quickly and not taking a breath. "To put it short; They disowned him."

Mrs. Evans put her hand to her mouth and gasped. "Oh my goodness that's awful. How could they do that to their own son?"

"They're evil Slytherins." Lily said.

"So none of you are pure bloods in your group...?" She asked trying to understand.

"No, James is one, Laura is and Peter is and obviously Sirius. But since they don't follow the traditional pure blood ways people like that Black family hate them."

She nodded and pretended she understood perfectly. "So, its Christmas eve morning, and you've just now decided to tell me that we're spending the holiday over the Potter's? When I've already begun to cook the dinner?"

"Yes!" Lily exclaimed. "I told Mrs. Potter we would be there around one o'clock."

"You told her a time? How did you know I would say yes?"

Lily laughed and smiled. "Because I know you, mum." She said and walked out of her room to go and tell her father.

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It was getting later in the day, around four o'clock and all three mothers were having a ball in the kitchen cooking the biggest Christmas meal of the century. The teenagers were all sitting in the living room staring at the mass amount of gifts around the tree, well except for Heather; she said that she would meet them later. She had to take care of something.

Andy was holding a particularly large gift with her name on it in front of her face staring at it in hopes of gaining x-ray vision and seeing through the wrappings. Remus was behind her with his arm around her shoulders and playing with her hair, he seemed amused by her actions.

James was setting up a record on the record player while Lily hummed Christmas songs in place of the music that would soon fill the room. Sirius was next to them looking with distaste at the collection of records.

"You have no Led Zeppelin." He stated as he looked thought the albums.

"Who cares about Zeppelin." Andy said setting the gift down and picking up another one before giving it a shake. "Metallica's the way to go."

"Thought you listened to that American crap." Sirius said giving her a sideways glance.

"Charlie Daniels, Willie Nelson and David Allen Coe are not crap." Andy stated. "I can stand heavy metal just not that shit you listen to, can't even understand him."

"It's not shit; it is the almighty the amazing Ozzy Osborn!" Sirius said and held up the rock sign.

"And now it's the almighty and the amazing Heather finally comes to say hello." Laura said getting up from poking some presents as she noticed Heather standing in the doorway.

Heather walked in the room, but behind her there was someone following in her shadow.

"Oi!" James cried the second he recognized the figure. "It's Chris!"

"Called your mum James, asked her if I could bring a guest and the answer was yes." She said taking a seat on the couch.

"And pray tell who is this strange man your brinin' home to dinner?" Andy asked, despite the fact it wasn't her house nor was it dinner time.

"This is Chris; he's in Auror training with James and Sirius. You've met him before." Heather responded with a roll of her eyes.

"We have?" She asked raising an eyebrow and looking him up and down.

"At the bar? Remember that night...?" Heather said trailing off; she didn't want to bring up certain topics.

"Oh yeah!" Andy showed no signs that the night she was kidnapped with Sirius bothered her anymore. "Wow, you were cuter at the bar... when you have about two pints of whiskey in you... The things alcohol can do."

"Andy!" Remus scolded. "Be nice."

"I am, I didn't shoot him in the face."

"Which is much appreciated, getting shot in the face isn't my idea of a picnic." Chris stated.

Sirius smirked. "Ignore Andy, she's unpleasant."

Andy stuck her tongue out at the pure blood and made a face.

"Let's not be crude, it's Christmas Eve!" Lily said with a smile. "Welcome Chris, I am Lily, you know James and Sirius. Over there is Peter, this is Laura, and that's Remus and Andy... she'll stop bugging you eventually."

Andy scoffed. "Don't count on it, he looks like fun."

"Does this mean you'll ease up on me?" Sirius asked.

"No."

"Howdy guys." Came the familiar accented voice of Ares Volk. Andy's older brother and sister had just walked in the room. His dark hair was no longer in its traditional pony tail, but it was still wild and shoulder length. But now he had a goatee where his once clean shaven face was.

"Hey, 'Res! Hey Cass!" Andy said getting up to hug her siblings. "Chris, this is Ares and Cassiopeia, my brother and sister. And dorks, this is Chris."

"Nice to meet you both." Chris said respectfully.

"The God of War is no dork." Ares said as he went over to shake Chris's hand.

"Neither is the Queen of the Phoenician kingdom Ethiopia." Cass argued.

Andy snorted. "Yeah, she is."

"Look whose talkin', you got chained to a rock and left for dead." Cass said.

Ares stepped between them before they could argue any further. "Let's just say ya both suck and that I rule everythin'."

Both sisters hit their brother on the arm... hard.

"Why couldn't mom have named me Artemis?" Andy moaned.

Andy sat down heavily with her brother and sister before Peter spoke. "I'm hungry." He stated boldly playing with some tinsel on the tree.

"Me too." James decided. "Think we can sneak some food before dinner?"

Sirius laughed. "James, you know we can I'll be right back." He got up and ran upstairs. He let everyone baffled and waiting his return. He came back quickly enough though. In his hand he held a silvery cloth. "Invisibility cloak anyone?" He asked.

"Your bloody brilliant, Sirius." James said draping it over himself.

"To some, maybe." Heather said next to a confused Chris, so she explained. "They're both dirty troublemakers, failed to mention that in Auror training huh?"

"No, never." He said. "But where did you lot get an invisibility cloak, rare aren't they?"

"Very rare, dad gave it to me." An invisible James said. "It's snack time."

A few seconds after they knew James had made it into the kitchen they heard the voice of his mother ring out in the house. "Mr. James Harry Potter! Get out of here, dinner will be served in an hour! Can't you wait that long!?"

James came running out of the kitchen the invisibility cloak only over him half way. "Since when could she tell when I was in the room?"

"Maybe when you started wearing that cheap, overpowering man musk." Heather said.

James glared.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The night came and went all of the friends and their parents went up to their bedrooms to sleep. Some had to bunk with other people seeing as they had more people then usual in the house. However none of the couples were, the boys went with the boys and the girls went with the girls.

The sun wasn't even up yet when the house came to life once more. Sirius and Remus were the first to wake up, they were sharing a room and Chris was bunking with James and Peter since he had the bunk bed in the corner.

But Remus wasn't up yet, only Sirius. The over grown child bounded over to the window and cupped his hands to try and see outside. He succeeded and was pleasantly surprised to see a blanket of white snow covering the ground. "Remus!" he yelled and jumped up and down on the bed a few feet away they set up the night before. "Remus, Remus, Remus, Remus, Remus!" He sang.

"Siri..." Remus slurred as he lifted his head a few inches off the pillow which was a chore. "Uh... Wha' 'ime 's i'?"

"Who cares it's Christmas!" He cried and shook the shoulders of the werewolf. "C'mon! We're the first ones up we have to wake up everyone else!"

"To early..." Remus moaned and his head fell back down on the pillow.

Sirius moaned and ripped the covers off his friend. "Moony! Where's your Holiday spirit!?"

"Sleeping." He responded.

"Urgh!" Sirius grunted and grabbed the legs of his friend and drug him off the bed making a loud thump on the floor. "Get up!"

"Noooooo..." Remus moaned and crawled back onto his bed and covered his head with his pillow.

"Usually I'm the one no one can get up." Sirius commented and sat down on the edge of Remus's bed.

Remus lifted his head and squinted at him before he rubbed his eyes. "Sirius... Pads... Mr. Padfoot, please, it is five thirty in the morning, I went to bed at two... I am in no mood to be up and around."

"Well if you could stop snogging Andy for a few hours then maybe you wouldn't be so tired."

"There was mistletoe." Remus argued.

"I know what can get you up." Sirius said and jumped off the bed and ran over to his closet. A few seconds later he pulled something out, it was a small box wrapped in red and green paper. "Here is a stocking stuffer I was going to give you later but I think you need it now."

Remus groggily sat up on his elbows and took the gift he murmured thanks and unwrapped it to expose a large chocolate bar. He smiled and raised an eyebrow. "You know me too well."

"I know." Sirius said.

Fifteen minutes later the Potter's household was becoming an insane asylum. Sirius ran though the halls of the Potter house in a craze. Many would believe that the young Mr. Lupin would be stopping him at one point, but alas no. Remus was running right behind him, just as crazy. Giving Remus chocolate as breakfast was never a smart thing. They learned that their first year at Hogwarts.

"Wake up!" Sirius yelled bounding into James's room first to attack him, Chris and Peter. "It's Christmas! Wake up!"

"Padfoot…?" James moaned as he sat up. "Christmas? … It's Christmas?! It's Christmas! Hey guys c'mon it's Christmas!"

Chris propped himself up and looked around. "What James? What's huh…?"

"Christmas, Chris! Christmas!" James yelled.

Soon all five boys were awake and running down the hall to the girl's rooms. Sirius opened the door and was met with Andy holding a wand to him.

"Sirius, if you walk in this room I swear I will kill you." She said.

"C'mon, love." Remus said stepping forward. "It's Christmas morning."

"I realize that fact." She began.

"But if you step foot into this room we'll kill you." Heather finished for her, now with her own wand out. Lily and Laura were behind her giggling, all still in their pj's as Lily was straightening Laura's hair for her.

The door was shut on their faces and they shrugged their shoulders and continued on their way. They were about to run over to their parents rooms to wake them up but half way there they were met by Ares jumping in front of him. His dark hair running free around his shoulders.

"Ares!" Sirius cried. "You're up!"

"Hell yeah I'm up!" Yelled the adult. "It's Christmas ain't it?" he was the only one permitted to sleep with a girl in the room, that girl on the other hand was his twin sister though…

"Is Cass up?" James asked and he shook his head.

"Hell, I tried." He said in his Texas drawl. "She ain't gonna get up unless she has no other choice."

"Well then," Sirius began. "Let's get to it. James take care of your parents, 'Res take care of your mum, Remus take your mum on."

"What about the Evans's?" Chris asked.

"You're right, Lily would never wake them up like that… okay how about this, and they'll wake up from the racket we're going to make out in the hall." Sirius laughed as he waved his wand a pan along with a wooden spoon appeared.

"You're brilliant." Peter said and acquired two pans from the kitchen.

The rest of the boys used their wands and conjured pots, pans and spoons. "If anyone asks, I tried to stop you." 'Res said, being the 'responsible' adult it was his duty to prevent things like this... bit Ares was not one to be responsible.

"I can't promise I'll defend you." Sirius said.

"Fair enough." He said and walked over to his mother's room along with everyone else who prepared to wake their parents or bang on the pots and pans. It was going to be a long morning.

Lisa: Woot! That's over guys, sorry I was gonna show Christmas morning but I just couldn't get it right.

Heather: Hi.

Lisa: ... Hi... anyway... I was gonna say somethin' else but I don't remember. I think it had somethin' to do with Ares and Cassiopeia...

Heather: That's okay.

Lisa: I really can't remember.

Heather: It'll come.

Lisa: No... It won't... oh well, maybe next time. See you guys later.


	27. Bachelor Party

Lisa: Hey guys I'm back with another fun filled chapter!

Heather: I was beginning to wonder what was taking you so long.

Lisa: Urg, I know. Me and Heather ended up in the same Creative Writing class this year and holy shit, pardon my French, it sucks.

Heather: All we do is poems...

Lisa: Poem after poem after poem.

Heather: It's sickening,

Lisa: It's hell.

Bachelor Party

Christmas came and went. They all received great gifts. Sirius later on in the day though left for a few hours. He had to go and wish his Aunt Andromeda a happy Christmas. Not to mention see Nymphadora, she had returned from Hogwarts for the holidays. Her hair was not a brilliant shade of red with green highlights. It was festive.

He returned around six o'clock in the evening and they all went outside and had a snowball fight. Christmas was indeed always a fun time of the year. Especially for Remus who received an abundance of chocolate. He was hyper for the rest of the day, and night, and morning... It was torture of Sirius, James and Peter who that night they all transformed and ran around outside, with a still human Remus. But the full moon was approaching, he wasn't... entirely human... If you could say that.

But Christmas couldn't last forever, they had to eventually get back to their normal lives and leave the Potter's house. Everyone was looking for a new house, James thought he may have already of found one. It was a nice one story house in an all wizard community. Lily saw it as well, she liked it.

Sirius was the only one who found a place he liked enough to buy. In fact he bought it almost right away. He was there now actually "decorating" the flat for Frank's bachelor party. He and Alice would be getting married in the upcoming month, he needed a party.

People should have been arriving for the party in several minutes, he just sat on the couch. The only preparing he did was a giant keg in the middle of the room. It was chilled in ice and ready for drinking.

There was a knock at the door and Sirius glanced up. Moaning he pushed himself up off the couch and walked over to the door. He opened it and saw James standing on the other side with a smirk. "Prongs!" Sirius cried. "Welcome to the Not-So-Noble and Not-So-Ancient House of Sirius!"

"Nice digs." James said and walked in as he got a good look at the place. "Maybe I should just move in with you, eh, mate?"

"Oh no, this is my bachelor pad, how am I supposed to bring in chicks with my in-a-relationship brother always hanging around?" Sirius asked and James shrugged.

"Joking, besides, I think me and Lils found a place. It's nice, bit far from here, but nothing floo powder or a broom ride could fix." James said happily.

"Excellent, so when are you and Lily gonna tie the knot? When can I throw a bachelor party for you?" Sirius asked and he and James plopped down on the comfy leather couch.

James sighed and snuck deeper into the couch. "Why is everyone riding me about that?" He asked closing his eyes and rubbing his head. "I don't see anyone bugging Andy or Remus about this stuff. And they've even been going out longer then me and Lily."

"Oh trust me, I'll have them married soon enough."

"I thought you didn't like marriage."

Sirius shook his head. "Never said that, I've said marriage isn't for me, but it looks good on other people."

There was another knock and both of them moaned in unison. "It's bloody open!" Sirius cried out. "Like hell I'm answering the door again."

Two boys walked in the room, one with black hair and the other with lighter hair. "Hey James, Sirius." Chris said, Benjy following closely behind. They decided it was a good idea to invite Chris, they didn't want all Order members at this party, this was after all... a bachelor party. No serious talk here, only strippers and beer.

"Oi Chris! You made it!" James said getting up from the couch, Sirius stayed where he was, far too lazy to stand.

"Bought some beer too." He said and placed the twelve pack on the table. "But it looks like you guys already have that area covered." He looked down at the keg.

"Of course, why have bottles when you can have a KEG!" Sirius cried and looked over the back of the couch at them. "You can throw some of those in the ice around the keg if ya like." He said and then turned back to the TV.

"Great." Chris said as he and Benjy began ripping open the box and placing the bottles in the ice to chill. There was another knock at the door as they began doing this.

"Oh come on, we should just leave the bloody thing wide open." Sirius murmured. "Just come in!" He yelled out to the knocker.

Remus stepped in the room and looked around for a moment at Sirius's new home. "Not bad, mate, not bad at all."

"Moony!" Sirius yelled looking up to see who it was from the spot he was still at on the couch. "Glad you could make it, any word on Wormtail yet?" It seemed that Peter was just getting more and more busy as the time went on. He continued to say it was family business. He had said his father passed it on to him, but they had their doubts.

"I dunno, might be here." Remus said and walked in the room, "never know with him anymore."

"How many more are we waiting on?" Benjy asked. "Before Frank comes of course."

"Um, well, I have no clue, just wait and see I suppose. I don't think Caradoc is coming, Slytherin prick." Sirius grumbled and looked at his watch. "Gideon and Fabian should be coming any minute now. I suppose that's all we're waiting for now."

"Good thing we're here then," Gideon said as he walked through the open door of Sirius's flat. "Nice place, Sirius, good place to bring muggle chicks too. Not too much magical activity."

"For now." Fabian said with a grin.

"That everybody?" James asked. "Aside from Peter that is, I dunno maybe he'll come later, you know he's never on time anymore."

"Name a time when he was." Remus said rolling his eyes.

Sirius barked out a laugh. "True Moony, very true, oi! Jamie! Throw me a bottle!" he cried and James took one of the chilling bottles out of the ice.

"Doubt it cold." Chris said raising an eyebrow.

"Chris," Sirius began and took his wand out. "I know you're a muggle born and I respect that, but please you should have been in the magic world long enough to know, we have a wand." He said with a laugh and chilled his drink with a tap of the wooden stick.

Chris smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh right... I guess I just forget sometimes..."

"You did go to wizarding school right?" James asked jokingly as he walked over to the keg and got himself a bottle of chilled beer.

"Shut up, you know I went." Chris mumbled as he sat down on an arm chair and looked at the TV. "What are you watching?" He asked Sirius.

"I... have no idea..." Sirius said slowly staring blankly at the TV.

"Hey, guys... Frank is coming." Remus said as he sniffed the air for a moment as he wandered over to the door.

"How do you know?" Chris asked.

"Ol' Moony has his ways." Sirius said not looking up from the TV. "Okay, now everyone hide!"

"Really?" Gideon asked.

"Hell no." Sirius scoffed and drank some beer.

There was a knock at the door.

"It's open..." Sirius moaned and rested his head on the back of the couch. "James, if you could, please?"

The stag animagus nodded and walked to the door, he threw it open making it hit hard on the rubber door stop. On the other side stood Frank, looking around expectantly at everyone but almost with amused doubt. "Welcome to your potentially lame bachelor party, Frank." James said. "Come on in."

"It will not be lame!" Sirius cried out raising his beer high. "We have tunes, we have some sort of alcoholic drink that Chris bought, we have a keg, _and_ a stripper."

"When is said stripper coming?" Fabian asked with a raised eyebrow.

Remus bit his lower lip and looked down, not entirely comfortable with the idea of a stripper. He did after all have a girlfriend, but his brain wouldn't let him say anything against it. Thankful for him, he didn't have to, James did for him.

"I dunno, Padfoot, if Lily ever found out she'd kill me." James said.

Sirius grinned and responded to his friend. "Well then lucky for you, what goes on it the flat stays in the flat."

"But when is the stripper coming?" Gideon asked with the same urgency his brother had moments before.

Sirius paused. "I dunno, soon... I hope... oh Merlin I pray." He dragged out and took a swig.

"I'm here!" Cried Peter happily as he walked through the door and got greeted by his friends. "Skipped out early, I'm sure my boss wouldn't mind, heh, too much." He said as he walked over to the keg and got a beer.

"Yeah, mate, you've been working your ass off lately." Chris said. He had known the group and gone out with them long enough to know about Peter's busy work schedule, and how it was slowly getting busier.

"I know, I know, but it's hard, you know." Peter said hanging out by the counter with Remus.

"What exactly do you do?" Benjy asked with heavy confusion in his voice.

Peter paused before taking a sip of his drink. "It's complicated." He finally responded.

Sirius laughed and looking at them over the edge of the couch. "And here we thought it would be Moony who got the complicated job, here it is Wormtail has it. The one who got tutored day in and day out."

"Like I'd ever get any sort of complicated job." Remus laughed at the very thought of it.

"Don't sell yourself short, Rem." Chris said.

The rest of the group nodded. "Yeah, you're brilliant, and I didn't even go to school with you freaks, you'll get a good job soon enough, just be patient." Fabian added.

Remus laughed but didn't say anything further, he knew just as well as any of them. A good job in his future was slim to none, he knew it, and he accepted it.

"So, what's Alice doing tonight?" Remus asked.

"She's hanging out with all the girls," Frank said, holding back the urge to say from the Order. "Bachelorett party apparently."

"Wonder if their getting a stripper." Fabian asked and his brother nodded next to him in agreement.

"I wonder." Gideon said.

"Is that all you think about?" Remus asked.

"Yes." The brothers answered in unison.

"If Molly ever found out you were so into wanting the stripper to come she would have a fit on the both of you." James said laughing, they all knew Molly well, they went to school with her even if she was an upperclassman when they were in their first year. But after school and when they got involved with the Order and with Gideon and Fabian, they got reacquainted with her when they were out on non-Order of the Phoenix business.

Gideon laughed and raised his glass in a mock toast. "Well then three cheers for what goes on in the flat –"

"Stay's in the flat." Fabian finished and they both drank.

"What the hell," Benjy said. "I'll drink to that." he raised his bottle and took a swig of his beer.

There was a long pause following the small toast the brothers just initiated. It seemed this bachelor party was going to be quite lame, that is until Sirius bolted up from his place on the couch for once and ran over to the kitchen.

"What are you doing...?" Remus asked as he quickly moved out of the way so he wouldn't get run over by a very urgent Sirius.

"This party," he began. "Has got to get started."

A few seconds later he came back up with a bunch of cups and some small, round, plastic balls. He walked over to the pool table in the den, he couldn't even play pool, it came with the flat. "Come on everyone." He called. "Could one of you bring the keg as well?"

"Sure." Peter said and raised his wand to the keg. He levitated it down the two steps and into the den. "Padfoot, I'm sort of lost here...?"

James looked around and then it dawned upon him and he grinned. "What a wonderful way to pass the time, old mate, beer pong." He said as he began setting the cups up on the other end of the table, while filling them with the bottles of beer while Sirius filled his end with the keg.

"Beer pong?" Frank asked not familiar with the muggle game.

"Simple drinking game." Sirius started explaining. "Try and throw one of the balls into your opponents cup, if you make it in, they drink the cup. Objective is the make them drink all their cups."

"And get them hammered." James added.

"Exactly." Sirius said with a grin as he finished setting up the last cup. "So, who's up first?"

"I say Frank," Remus said. "It is after all his party."

"Brilliant Moony!" Sirius said and grabbed a hold of Frank's arm and set him on one end of the table. "Up against, Benjy, you'll do, get over here."

"Sure thing, be warned Frankie boy, I'm good." Benjy said as he grabbed a ball. "You're the one getting married next week, you go first."

Frank took the small white ball and aimed for a moment before bouncing it across the table, it hit the edge of one of Benjy's cups but it didn't go in. There was a chorus of disappointed and happy groans.

"Now you, Ben, go on." Fabian said.

Benjy went and sure enough it landed straight in Franks first cup. A cheer rang out and Frank downed the cup of beer in one large gulp.

"Don't worry mate," Sirius said patting Frank on the back. "The game gets easier and funnier the more wasted you get."

Lisa: Okay, I was going to show some of the bachelorett party, but I figured ya know with Andy there beer pong is probably getting played as well. I'll leave it to you to decide if the girls had a stripper or not. Hehe...

Heather: Next chapter is the long awaited wedding of Alice and Frank Longbottom.

Lisa: I hope you guys didn't forget about cuz I kinda did.

Heather: Bad Lisa.

Lisa: (glare)

Heather: eep...


	28. Special Day

Lisa: Whew, finally I'm back for good... for about a month before the musical comes up in school. We're doing Beauty and the Beast wish me luck on the part of Belle. But anyway, I did the fall play and my life has been so hectic, all my free time was sleep.

Heather: She wasn't even on the computer... at all. It was a week before the show and I only got to talk to her in school

Lisa: Not my fault, but I'm still tired and... sleepy... but yeah, it's done for a bit.

Heather: Until the musical.

Lisa: Until the musical.

Special Day

"It's the big day." Sirius sang as he paraded into the room where Franks at staring at himself in the mirror with his dress robes on, ready for the wedding.

Frank nodded and let out a long sigh. "I know. Oh Merlin... I know it is."

"Nervous?" Remus asked walking over and sitting on the couch against the wall.

"More then anything."

James shook his head and walked over with a smile. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure everything will be perfect. You two were made for one another." He said and fell down on the couch next to Remus.

"Like you and Lily were made for one another and Remus and Andy were made for one another?" Frank asked. "And yet, somehow, I am the one who gets married first. Would someone please explain this too me?"

Sirius shrugged and walked in front of the mirror to start slicking back his newly cut hair. "Can't help you there, mate, I've been trying to get these two hooked up with their ladies years ago, but so far you're the only luck I've had. And I didn't even do too much." He admitted.

"I'm not ready to be married, and I think I can speak for myself and Andy on that one." Remus murmured.

"Good excuse enough I suppose," Sirius said and then turned to James. "What about you? While we're on the subject of weddings."

James smirked and sighed as he sat down on a large comfy chair across from the couch. "Well, actually, you see..." He hesitantly reached in the robes of his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. He opened it and showed his friends.

Inside was a large diamond ring formed in the shape of a lily flower.

Sirius grabbed the box to get a better look at the huge rock inside.

"Shit Prongs! This is a diamond engagement ring that's worth more then Remus!" He cried out making Remus looked up and giving him an offended 'why me' look.

"That must be worth a fortune, more then I make in a year." Edgar said, squinting his eyes to try and get a better look at it.

"When are you going to ask her?" Frank asked looking over Sirius's shoulder at the ring.

"I was gonna do it last week, but I chickened out." James said taking the ring back from Sirius. "Besides she seemed real stressed with the wedding coming up and helping Alice."

"That's funny." Remus began, "Andy doesn't seem stressed in the slightest bit."

James snorted. "Well, Andy... she's... she's a bit..."

"Odd? Loony? Lose? Missing a few chess pieces?" Sirius helpfully put in.

"Quark unscrewed, snitch without wings..." Edgar added.

"Yes." James said and shot a look to Remus.

"S'okay," the werewolf said waving it away. "Trust me, I've heard worse."

They all nodded, they had all heard worse... much worse.

"But aside from that, James, this ring is amazing." Frank said unbelieving that he was able to afford a ring that large, but then again, he was born in wealth like many pure bloods. "You should ask her soon, weddings over, or almost, Voldemort hasn't had any recent attacks, or none that are that bad. So it's a good time, I'd say."

"He's right Prongsie, do it before Voldemort strikes again and we're all busy fighting the good fight and you have no time." Peter said from the corner as he tried to tie his tie. He wasn't a groomsmen, but Frank considered him one of his best friends and he still wanted him there with him, even if he wouldn't be up by his side during the ceremony.

Remus sighed and walked over to him. "Honestly, with as much dinner parties you attend with your parents, you'd think you'd know how to tie a bloody tie. But anyway he is right. Do it, do it before something bad happens."

"Like you're one to talk." James said putting the ring back in his pocket and patting it with his hand.

"Hey, I said I'm not ready, neither of us are, besides I don't even know if it's legal for us to marry." Remus said finishing Peter's tie and turning back to the rest of his friends.

James looked confused. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"We're werewolves, Jim, scum of the earth, remember?" Remus laughed off the subject with an obviously fake laugh. "We can have a union though."

"Not the same as a marriage, but if it is illegal, I'm sure Dumbles could pull some strings." Sirius said with a smile.

Remus shook his head and looked down, running his fingers through his hair. "I dunno, Pads, many things you have said to me have never come true, or come to pass, or even existed." He glared in Sirius's direction.

"Hey, when I said most of those things I thought them to be true."

"And you never bothered to look them up?" Remus asked with a raised eyebrow.

James laughed. "This is Sirius, you kidding? He never looks anything up. A library is a foreign concept to him."

"I would have loved to of known you all better in school." Edgar said and then their attention was turned to the door as it opened.

"Hey guys, I uh, I think you should start getting out here." Benjy said opening the door a bit too look in, he'd been busy taking care of things out in the main room. He had been in there with Frank all morning, and just left for ten minutes or so to see if everything was ready to go.

"Should we?" James said and peaked his head out the door as well. "Yeah, probably a good idea. C'mon then, time to take our positions troops!"

The group of young men walked out of the room and into the main room where the ceremony would be held. Not many people were there, only close friends and family.

Meanwhile in the brides dressing room, things were going to hell. And fast.

"Oh my God!" Alice cried as she strode across the room in a while gown. "Where is my veil? Lily, Lily, help me find it please!"

"Of course, of course," the red head replied. Her hair no longer curly, but straight down her back and over her shoulders. "Where did you see it last?" She asked as she threw pillows off the couch and moved make-up from off the table.

"I don't know! Maureen, have you seen it?"

Maureen looked confused, she had just entered the room from checking on things in the main room. "See what? What are we looking for?" She asked, panic rising in her voice.

"The veil!" Laura said her brown hair flying around her face.

Maureen looked horrified and began searching the small room for the light piece of fabric.

While this bustle for the missing veil was going on two girls sat on the couch and chair in complete harmony. Playing chess, and neither winning, they feared a stalemate was going to take place.

Andy moved her knight as Laura came over and began lifting up the ruffles on the bottom of her bridesmaids dress looking for the veil.

"Ain't under there," Andy said not even looking at her, all her concentration completely on the game.

"Couldn't we just _accio_ it?" Heather asked and every girl in the room paused. Alice walked over to the table and picked up her wand, she murmured the charm and from on the table opposite the room a translucent white piece of fabric lifted up and floated over to Alice's hand.

"See that worked." Heather said moving her queen over one space.

"Urg, how can you two be so calm at a time like this!" Lily said as she stormed over. "Alice is in one of the most important moments of her life and here you are playing wizard's chess!"

"Easy." Andy replied and finally looked up from the board. "It ain't my weddin', besides," she looked back down to the game. "It'll turn out fine, always does."

"Does my hair look okay with this?" Alice asked as she placed the veil on her head and began fiddling with her short slightly spiked up hair. It would remind you of a future Nymphadora Tonks, except it was a natural color.

"It looks fine," Laura insisted as she walked over and stood behind her friend. "It looks fine now, just like it did at the store."

Andy grunted. "The store we were at for six dip shit hours."

"Trying on every dress in the place." Heather concluded.

Maureen glared at them for a moment before moving next to Laura in front of the mirror. "We have got to document this." She said and with a large poof and flash a picture was taken into the mirror. She had been taking pictures all day long; she even got one of Andy and Heather looking deathly bored earlier. They didn't do much, Heather wore some make-up, Andy lightened up on her make-up and both just kept their hair down.

Maureen took another picture sticking her head in the shot as well. The two girls playing chess rolled their eyes as Andy crushed Heathers king.

"How did that happen!?" She exclaimed.

"You weren't paying attention." Andy said folding her arms and leaning back.

Heather eyed the board and then looked up at Andy and said, "cheater."

"I did not cheat."

"You cheated."

"I did not."

"Yes you did."

"I did not."

The girls began overlapping one another in their argument and Lily turned around with fire in her eyes that matched her hair. "Would you two, just shut it? This is a wedding, a beautiful, happy, moment, something Alice should be celebrating for the rest of her life, I want you both you enjoy it and be happy!" She hissing holding her finger up at them.

"Are you okay Lily?" Alice asked turning around. "You seem awfully tense, and I am the bride here."

Lily put her hand to her head and sighed. "Oh I know, I know, I guess just the whole wedding business and all..."

"Do you want James to ask you?" Laura asked wringing her fingers together.

The red head shrugged and sat down next to Heather and Andy. "I don't know, I think, I might... I don't know, I mean I thought he would have asked me by now, maybe it had to do with moving in with his parents, but he found a place. A nice place, we both like it, and I don't know..."

"Well, maybe he's waiting for the right moment." Laura said sitting down and forcing Andy to move over a few inches. "You know, candle lit, under a twinkling star charmed ceiling, some instruments in the corner playing your favorite song, your favorite dinner and dessert brought to you by a nice proper house elf..." She trailed off with her eyes sparkling and staring off into space.

Heather watched with a blank look. "Sounds boring."

"Besides Sirius would never do that." Andy said as the girls began building a house out of a deck of exploding snap cards.

"Who says I wanted Sirius to do it?" Laura asked infuriated. "I broke up with him years ago!"

"It was only two." Heather murmured as she placed one card on top of the one Andy placed.

"All the same, I was over his ass years ago, and I will never go back." Laura said and strode over to the mirror to fix her hair.

"Then, I don't think you'll mind that you have to dance with him." Andy said walking over and bending over so her head was resting on Laura's shoulder.

"What!?" Laura cried and spun around. "I have to what?"

Heather came up on the other side of her. "Well it's true, you see, maid of honor dances with best man. A.k.a Maureen and Benjy, Andy is gonna dance with Remus, Lily with James, I'll be with Edgar and therefore you get Sirius." She smirked.

"Want to trade?" She asked desperately.

"Hell no," Heather said straightening up. "I wouldn't dance with him if my life depended on it."

Andy grinned and grabbed her shoulders. "You are so not gonna get out of this one."

She groaned and looked down.

"Hey guys," Maureen said by the door with a rushed urgent voice and waving her hand. "I hear the bleeding wedding march, let's go let's go Alice! Everyone!"

As they all rushed around the exploding snap cards exploded making them all jump and shoot glares at Heather and Andy.

The brides maids all ran out with Alice running best she could behind them with the heals on. They reached the doors and seconds later they opened to revel the girls just finishing handing out the small bouquets of flowers and begin walking. All the men at the end of the isle were already waiting for them.

The girls reached the alter and stood in their rightful spots across from the men. Frank bit his lip and glanced down for a split second before Alice walked out. When she did, he caught his breath in his throat. He though, she was absolutely gorgeous, her dress trailed behind her and her round face was complimented by the thin veil around her head. She smiled and blushed when she saw Frank stunned.

After the longest thirty seconds of her life she reached Frank and took his hand with her free one, she held the bouquet with her other hand. She saw his eyes look her up and down and a smile grace his face. She smiled back at him and were only pulled out of their trance when the preacher started speaking.

"Are you both ready?" He asked with humor in his voice, apparently he had been trying to get their attention for some time.

"Oh yeah... yea..." Alice said and Frank nodded still speechless.

"Then we'll begin." He began reading out of the bible and talk about the young couple. But none of the wedding party was really paying attention to it.

Aside from Alice and Frank there was more love in the room. James stared at Lily and she stared back at him. His hair, still sitting on top his head in all directions and his eyes still held that glint of mischief that would never really go away, but, little had to admit, he looked hansom in the dress robes.

'I love you' James mouth across the walkway at her and she smiled back and mouthed it to him as well.

'I love you too' Lily said back as she rocked slightly where she stood, flirting with James a little.

He stared at her, her hair no longer in curls and her teeth pearly white against her ruby red lips. Her green eyes were sparkling in the wonderful lighting of the room. Now he remembered why he wanted to ask this girl to marry him last week. Now he remembered and now no matter what came up nothing would stop him this time. If they were attacked by Lord Voldemort and placed in St. Mungo's he would ask her. If Quidditch throughout the world was canceled forever, he would still ask her.

Nothing was going to stop him.

But still, that was not all. Remus stared at Andy, her blond hair falling over her shoulder and almost reaching her waist. She wore no glasses today, her eyes were temporarily charmed, it would fade by the end of the day, it was just for the wedding. But her moderate make-up and pale skin made her gray eyes stand out.

The light blue/green dress was very different then the normal jeans and shirts she wore. Finally she caught his gaze and cocked her head to the side as if saying 'what'.

Slightly he shook his head, making his still lose bangs fall around his eyes, they were secure up on the sides of his head but they would never stay there. He smirked at her and she smiled back, laughing at him. He could have sworn she mouthed 'dumb ass' to him.

Laura looked around the room, with her eyes, trying to keep focused on Alice and Frank, who didn't seem to hear a word of what the preacher was saying. She was still reluctant to dance with Sirius, there was too much history there, it could get weird. As her brown eyes traveled around the room she caught Sirius looking in her direction, but the second he saw her looking his averted his eyes back to Alice and Frank. Laura couldn't help but smile.

Heather looked around the room, her eyed catching Chris in the fifth row on the groom's side. He looked a little bored, but stared ahead at the preacher as he continued to say the lines, so well rehearsed. She had to admit, he was kinda cute sitting here looking like that. It made her smile.

"I do." Were the simple words that snapped everyone out of their own thoughts. It just made them smile, just two words, no real special words, but the meaning behind them was remarkable.

"I do." Again, this time said by Alice.

"You may now kiss the bride."

Putting her arms around his neck and his around her waist the two were engrossed in a deep passionate kiss that made everyone clap and smile even wider.

Alice and Frank ran back down the isle and into the hallway. The reception would be taking place in the ball room of the place. It was only a short walk, soon, they had everyone on their heals following them as they entered the dolled up fancy room that was about to meet some of the worst drunks in the world.

Lisa: This is a two parter, with the reception mixed in here it would just be too long.

Steph: YES!

Lisa: Heather's not here, her computer died... and burned... and just crumbed to the ground in little hateful bits of crap.

Steph: YES!

Lisa: That's the only word she's capable of.

Steph: YES!

Lisa: ...

Steph: ... YES!


	29. Reception and Proposal

Lisa: AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

Heather: Oh my...

Lisa: Yeah, I have a soar throat so I don't know why I would yell, but these jolly ranchers are really helping.

Heather: I'm sure they are...

Reception and a Proposal

Sirius picked up his shot glass and downed yet another shot of fire whiskey and slammed the small glass down on the counter top. It was getting late in the evening, the party was still going on, and almost everyone was drunk off their asses. Sirius was hooking up with almost every female at the wedding, as Remus and James had predicted the night Alice and Frank told them of the wedding. As of right now he was with a girl by the name of Susan, a relative of Alice. You'd think a girl would know better then to start making out with a guy who she just saw drag a different girl to the back of the room, but she was quite drunk herself.

"C'mon then luv..." Sirius drawled as got up and put his hand around the girl. "Let's go over... uh..."

"There?" She helped out and pointed to an almost empty corner of the room.

"Tha' works perf'ctly." He stumbled over his words and both of them began walking over to the corner, both of them tripping into one another and laughing and nothing in particular.

Alice noticed him walking over there with Susan and jogged over there to catch them before they did anything. "Sirius, Sirius, Sirius, no, okay, no, not my baby cousin. No way, uh uh, sorry."

Sirius's grin went away in an instant. "But, Alice." He started to complain. "Yer c'usin's really hot!"

Alice's hand then came out of no where and slapped Sirius across the face, he made a blank face and looked back to her. "Ow..." He said.

Alice rolled her eyes at him and took the hand of her little cousin before dragging her away complaining.

Sirius watched them go and then wandered around the room a bit more. In a minute or so, he ran into Andy and Remus who were snogging on the couch, more then anyone have ever seen them go at it. Both defiantly drunk, but neither got sloppy drunk, their decision making skills and senses were just extremely dulled. Sirius fell down next to them getting their attention and making them stop. "So, Moony, could I borrow her for a minute or two?"

Remus raised an eyebrow at him and scoffed. "Get your horny ass of the couch, Padfoot, you're not going any where near her."

"Yeah, Padfoot, go away." Andy said and wrapped her arms tighter around Remus. "Go snog another one of the girls here."

"'ve snogged th'm all." He moaned.

"Then go snog yourself I have business I have to finish." Andy said and leaned in on Remus once more. The two would never snog like this in public, at a wedding to make it worse but they were both drunk.

Sirius sucked on the side of his mouth for a moment before getting up and sauntering over to the other side of the room where Lily and James were sitting, James, a little bit drunker then Lily. It looked as though she was trying to keep him under some sort of control.

"'ey Prongs!" Sirius said and sat down. "Wha'cha'doin' here?"

"Hangin' out with me girl." James said looking over to Sirius. "Wha're you doin'? I think you'd be out on th' dance floor by now."

"I did... I threwed up ov'r there, I th'k th' lady cleaned it up though..." Sirius slurred pointing over to a corner of the room.

Lily looked shocked by this, someone had thrown up in the room and no one yelled or did anything? And he _thinks _it was cleaned up? "Sirius, just how many drinks have you had?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I dunno... But 'm bored..." He moaned and put his head down on the table.

James shrugged. "Gonna go 'ome then?" He asked his eyes half closed and his vision blurred.

"No!" Sirius yelled like a child. "I wanna go 'ave more fun." He said and stood up very wobbly. "None of yous were none help at all..." He walked away, James wanted to go after him and jump on his back but Lily stopped him just in time.

Sirius walked around and walked into a hallway to see a couple snogging at the wall. He scoffed and rolled his eyes, apparently no one was allowed to snog here except him. He was about to walk away when he noticed just who this couple was. He started grinning and laughing to himself putting his hand over his mouth to be sure not to let them know he was there.

He covered his face with his hands like a five year old and peeked though his fingers to catch the faces of Heather and Chris snogging some more before Sirius dashed back into the main room. He was laughing at what he just saw before running into Laura who it looked as though she had a few too many.

"Oi! Lookit, it's Laura Jean." Sirius said with a big grin.

"Lo, Sirius," She said putting her hands on his shoulders to steady herself.

"D'ya 'appen 't know where Wormtail is, dear?" Sirius asked looking around the room with his shaggy black hair in his face.

"I th'nk I saw him ov'r..." she looked around. "Somewhere."

"'E's too short 't see anywhere..." Sirius complained as he craned his neck to see around the few people who were still left in the place.

"'Ey! It's fun 't be short..." Laura said poking Sirius in the chest.

He shrugged. "I wouldn' know."

There was a long silence before Sirius looked around for Peter one last time and sighed. "So, d'ya wanna go in th' back closet? I th'nk no ones in there now." He said jutting his thumb behind him.

Laura raised her brow at him and then looked down and she shook her head. "You snogged ev'ry girl in th's place t'night, there is no way... in HELL 'm gonna go snog ya now." She poked him hard in the chest. "Yer chest 's harder th'n I r'member..."

"But I drank a shot af'er that last g'rl... wha's 'er name..." He said and stared off into space for a second.

Laura shrugged. "Okay... le's go."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The next morning Sirius woke up in his flat, he had no idea how he got there. But that's where he was. He was dressed in boxers and lying on top of his sheets. Moaning he tried to sit up only to realize that he had a pounding headache, looking around he was thankful that someone had closed the curtains on the windows.

Tenderly he got up holding his head and slid off his bed, there were sounds coming from his kitchen, he wondered if he bought one of the women he hooked up with the previous night home. If he had, he wondered which one, he was quite drunk.

Pushing open the door and making his way into the kitchen he squinted at the sudden light and rubbed his eyes. Almost physically puling his eyelids open he looked around to see who was in his kitchen. To his surprise it was no blond girl with big breasts, it was none other then Remus Lupin, making himself some tea.

"Moony...?" Sirius asked walking over and grabbing the tea kettle from the stove top. "What are you doing in my flat?" he asked before tiling back his head and drinking the tea straight from the kettle.

"I took you home, you were in no shape to floo on your own, probably would have ended up in someone's house." He answered. "And I just had the good graces to stay and make sure you didn't die from alcohol poisoning or choke on your own vomit."

"You weren't entirely sober as I remember, or of what I remember..."

Remus sighed. "Yes, well I'm a much more coordinated drunk then you. But it was a hell of a night. By the way, do you remember where you were the last hour or so? No one does, you just sort of disappeared."

Sirius closed his eyes and let out a long breath, is mind flashed back to the night before and he couldn't remember much. Just many girls... some flashes of his friends, but the later he got into the night the less he remembered. "I dunno," he said before actually getting a mug and pouring himself some tea. "It's real fuzzy, hm, I thought my liver could've handled more..."

"Well that's what happens at weddings, particularly ones with many Order members in it." Remus smiled. Looking down at his watch he sighed, well its past noon by the way, I should head back to Andy's house. You know I think we found a spot to live."

"Really?" Sirius asked with a smile as he picking up some pills from the counter and downed them to try and rid himself of the massive headache. "Where?"

"It's a small cottage outside London, a bit far, but nothing a good floo or a nice calming broom ride couldn't fix." Remus said with a smile, "Daina found it when she was investigating some of the places death eaters could have been hiding out."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "So you're future home was once inhabited by death eaters?"

"No, no," Remus said holding his hands up to stop Sirius. "She was just you know, going through the neighborhood and this one was for sale. It's cheap, not the biggest house... or the fanciest, but it's what I can afford."

Sirius smirked. "Then you're lucky Andy isn't into materialistic stuff."

"Speaking of her, I should head back, told her I'd be home by noon." Remus said putting down his tea and walking over to the fireplace.

"If she's even up, but I doubt it, she tends to sleep in, yes?" Sirius asked taking another swig of the tea. "Oh ow..."

"What?" Remus asked as he grabbed a handful of floo powder.

"Headache..." He moaned. "Don't suppose you know any spells for a hangover do you?"

"I do, but... I don't think I'm going to tell you just yet." Remus smiled and threw the powder in the fire and leaving Sirius alone in his flat.

"Jerk off." Sirius said after Remus had left.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

James opened his eyes and looked around at his new house, just a couple days before the wedding they had moved into the new house. He narrowed his eyes, the sun was blaring through the window in his face. Putting his hand up he blocked the light and stood up to close the shades. This must have made a disturbance on the bed because he heard Lily moan next to him. After closing the shades he turned around to see her looking up at him with those beautiful green eyes.

"Hey, Lily Flower," James said as he crawled into the bed next to her and taking his glasses off the night stand at the same time before sliding them on his face.

"Hello, Jimmy." She said with a smiled as he rolled his eyes at the, in his opinion, ridiculous nickname. "How's your head?"

"How did you know my head hurt?" He asked her.

She smirked and started playing with his messy hair. "You were so drunk last night there is no way you don't have a hangover."

"You were a bit drunk too." He countered.

"Not as much as you." She smiled and cuddled her head in his chest.

James sat there and took a deep breath. Moving his hand over to the nightstand he opened the drawer and pulled out a small velvet bow. Biting his lip and clearing his throat he began to talk to Lily in a quiet voice. "So, the wedding, makes you think, huh?"

She opened her eyes and looked up to him, "yeah, it does, why?"

"Well it's just... you know this war, it could get bad, we don't know what could happen... to you... or me..."

Furrowing her brow she sat up so she was eye level with him. "James, what's all this about?"

"Well, I was just thinking, I mean, we've been dating for a while now, you remember when you first went out with me? It was all because of that race? Andy made that bet." He started babbling.

She smiled. "Oh yeah, I still think she cheated, but it doesn't really matter anymore I guess."

"She kinda did, as we were racing she bumped people out of the way to help me win, so did Sirius, the others helped too, but they kept them in the back. Andy and Sirius 'patrolled' around me." James said and a loot of realization washed over Lily's face.

"I knew it!" She slapped his chest. "I knew you cheated."

"Just proves how much I loved you even then." He smiled at her.

She looked at him in silence for a moment. "James, what's all this about? Why the sudden stroll down memory lane?"

"Well... Lily... Lillian Marie Evans..." He opened the small velvet box with the thumb of his hand as he sat next to him on the bed and bought it up. "Will you marry me?" he asked and help the box open in front of her.

Lily looked shocked and then looked down at the box, a look of confusion spread across her face. "Well, James, I would love to." She giggled a little bit. "But, there's no ring in that box." She reached her hand out and grabbed a small note in the box. "Only this."

"What...?" James said as he grabbed the note, the ring was expensive, he wanted it. "Dear Prongs." James rolled his eyes, the messy handwriting, it had to be Sirius. "You must be proposing to Lily now, you would never check the box before hand in fear of dropping the ring. (I'm grinning now by the way). I know this was probably the worst possible thing I could do, but I had too. As a fellow Marauder, you understand. Haha, but anyway, sorry, mate, the ring's in your dress robes pocket. Say yes Lily, I want you in the family."

James grunted and shot up while Lily sat on the bed laughing. "Well," she started. "You have to admit, it got you a tad riled up."

Rummaging through his dress robes he wore the night before he found the ring in the inside the pocket. Sighing he walked back over to the bed and sat down. "Let's try this again." He said and held out the ring making Lily gasp at its size and beauty. "Lily Marie Evans, will you marry me? If anything happens to me in this war, I want to make sure I'm married to the most beautiful girl in the world."

She nodded. "Yes, James, oh... Merlin yes I will! I will!" She screeched as he slid the ring on her finger. She squealed and launched herself forward to hug him.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Elsewhere in the wizarding world Laura was waking up in her bed at the Potter home, she had yet to find herself a decent flat. She found a nice building though she was just waiting for someone to finish moving out, it was just a couple blocks away from Sirius. She sat up and looked around. Sighing she thought back to the party the night before.

Halfway through rubbing her eyes she stopped and stared forward with wide eyes. "Oh my God..." She said. "What did I do?"

Lisa: Well my throat still hurts... a lot... so I won't be talking much.

Heather: I will! Um... uh... yeah... so yeah! Review! And um... yeah...

Lisa: Well said.


	30. Fear Itself

Lisa: Here's a real long two part chapter for you guys since I made you wait so long.

Heather: Lengthy.

Lisa: Yes, now OMG CHRISTMAS IS COMIGN UP! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! AND HAPPY WHATEVER THE HELL HOLIDAY YOU CELEBRATE!

Heather: Not to be offensive to any readers.

Lisa: Of course not I love you all, now, enjoy the chapter.

Fear Itself

James Potter and Lily Evans, soon to be James and Lily Potter. Engaged for three weeks now, everyone was ecstatic when they found out. Lots of girls screaming and men clapping one another on the back, wine was distributed and music was played. It was a great party by all the Marauders and Marauderetts.

But such parties could not last forever, and not all the friends were being friendly. Ever since the wedding Laura had been avoiding Sirius like the plague. What was worse, he didn't know why. He didn't remember a thing from the night of the wedding, but she did. Maybe some details were fuzzy, but she knew something happened, and it was something that was more then awkward.

People were also starting to notice. Andy, Heather and Lily had already approached Laura about the matter. But, she brushed it off and just said it was nothing, she was as bad a liar as Remus. They knew something was up, but they didn't push it. They'd find out eventually, or Andy and Heather would find out. They had a way of finding these things out, it was sort of scary when you thought about it.

James sat on his sofa, absentmindedly playing with a deck of exploding snap cards in his hands. It made him jump if one went off. But he couldn't stop staring at his soon-be-be wife, who was cooking dinner, the Muggle way, in the kitchen.

As he stared he didn't notice the glimmering white Patronus that ran into the room. In fact he didn't notice it until it had to jumped on his lap and practically glared at him. When it did, James nearly fell off the couch. He got a good look at the animal and sighed, waving his hand to let it know he got the message.

Standing up he looked over to Lily and began telling her. "Put dinner in the fridge, it's time to go." He said cracking his back.

Lily turned around dumbfounded. "Time? They called already? The Order meeting was just yesterday, who's Patronus is it? They must be joshing you." She said folding her arms with a wooden cooking spoon still in hand.

"Remus's." James answered. "Best put that in the fridge and we can head out."

"I can't believe this," Lily complained taking the food off of the stove and placing it on the counter angrily. "I was almost done, now it'll taste weird cause I'll have to recook it."

"Well, isn't the final, demise of Voldemort more important then dinner?" He asked while putting on his jacket to prepare for the cold March weather.

"No." She sharply responded, not skipping a beat.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The pair walked into Order HQ a few minutes later, following them was Moody, looking just as grumpy as ever. It was Moody who had let them in the HQ.

"Sorry we're a bit late." James said taking off his jacket and slinging it over the back of a chair. "Made-Eye gave us a thorough investigation; he made sure it was us." He widened his eyes and sat down on the chair next to Lily.

Remus smirked. "Well he did the same to us, don't think you're special now."

"I feel violated." Sirius said sitting in his chair arms crossed and almost pouting.

"Is everyone here?" Mad-Eye grumbled to Dumbledore who sat at the front of the table along with McGonagall who was next to him.

"We're just missing Gideon." Fabian answered rather then Dumbledore. "He couldn't get away from work without looking suspicious. If you really need him though, he said to send a Patronus to him and he'd be here in a second."

"Sturgis as well," McGonagall said. "He had some... personal things to attend to."

"Then, let us begin." The Dumbledore said and stood in his chair. "I'm grateful that you could all come on such short notice, even in the middle of cooking what I'm sure was a fine meal." He looked at Lily with a twinkle in his blue eye. She blushed and scrunched down in her chair a little bit. "We told you at our last meeting that we knew of an old abandoned house that had once held Voldemort himself, now it seems that we have found it's exact location but Voldemort has already moved on. All who resides in it now are Death eaters and possibly very valuable information to the Order. I want you to go in, in groups and find out exactly what he was doing there. He has thousands of other places to hide, I don't see why he would come to this place which is so close to us."

"So do we capture or kill Death eaters?" Sirius asked.

The older man turned his attention to Sirius. "Kill if you must, but I would not like one so young to have to live with such burden, try and paralyze them. If we can interrogate them they might give us valuable information. Now be prepared for anything, be ready to use your protection spells, and don't flinch at unthinkables. They will use them, and you have to be ready. I hate to put you in there, but it'll be a while before the ministry would let any of their Aurors in, and by then any information we need could be gone."

"When we goin' in?" Andy asked with a blank and yet serious face.

"I've prepared a Portkey." Mad-Eye said stepping into the conversation. "I want you split up in pairs, one weaker one stronger. Meaning Black, Potter, Prewett, Lupin, Volk, Longbottom and McKinnon, you pair up with one of the others."

They nodded and looked toward the people. "Hey Benjy," Maureen McKinnon said. "You're with me." She grinned.

"Of course I am." He moaned.

"Wait! I'm here!"

They all looked to the way of the door and saw Sturgis walking in. "Hey, sorry I'm late... but... yeah, personal stuff." He gave a nervous smile while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Podemore, how did you get in?" Moody asked glaring.

"I let him in." Aberforth Dumbledore said walking in from behind Sturgis.

"We're pairing up with people for the mission, do you even know what it is?" Moody asked bluntly.

"I filled him in, Alastor." Aberforth growled at him.

"Fine then, so where were we? Prewett? Who're you with?" Moody turned away from Aberforth and Sturgis, apparently he wasn't in any mood to be arguing with either for them.

The one Prewett brother nodded his head toward a man sitting in the back. He was one of the newer members of the Order, only got recruited a few weeks earlier, if they went into combat this would be his first battle. However, Fabian knew him well enough, he said he was smart and a good man for the job. Normally he would be going with his brother, they were the perfect team, but since he was unavailable at the moment he would have to make due with the new guy.

"C'mon Dora, you're with me." Andy said to Dorcas Meadows, Dorcas wasn't a combat witch, she was however excellent at concealing herself and was therefore a very good spy.

Mad-Eye wouldn't allow couples to go together. He said personal feelings could get in the way. So, James got paired up with Alice and Frank with Lily.

Heather and Sturgis were already talking so apparently they were going to get paired up together. The confirmed it when Mad-Eye looked at them and they nodded quickly before returning to their conversation. Sturgis knew Heather decently well, he was two years ahead of them in Hogwarts and had become friends.

Remus therefore decided he should be the one to look after Peter. "Wormtail, I suppose that places you with me." He said and Peter nodded as he walked over to his old friend.

Sirius moaned and looked over, it was only Laura and Caradoc Dearborn left. Laura still seemed to be avoiding him for some reason and she had already begun chatting it up with Edgar Bones. So that only left him with...

"I object." Sirius said and looked toward the adults who would be going in with one another.

"Mr. Black, Mr. Dearborn, I suggest that for tonight, you get along, for all our sakes." McGonagall said as she stood from her seat.

"But Professor..." Sirius moaned and Caradoc glared daggers at him.

"Believe me, Black, I don't like this anymore then you." He said.

Dumbledore with his loud calm voice interrupted the evil stares between the boys. "Come on then, time to go, we shouldn't waste time." He held an old broken vase and placed it on the table. "Everyone, grab hold."

They all took a firm hold and in seconds they all felt a tug at their naval and it felt like they were flying through a vortex. Seconds later they all landed back on the ground, some graceful, others not so much. It was like an abandoned backstreet, the sun wasn't even shinning through the thick clouds that covered the sky.

"This is creepy..." Laura voiced as she looked around at the old trees around them and hunching her shoulders in the cold.

"Sure looks like a place ol' Voldy would hang out in." Andy said as she looked around, trying to be aware of her surroundings.

"Scared?" Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow.

She smirked at him. "You wish."

"Start moving!" Mad-Eye Moody yelled out and started walking in a direction. Everyone looked at each other and started following with a jog to catch up with his ridiculously fast pace.

"Why didn't we Portkey straight there?" Benjy complained as they walked.

"Because Mr. Flitwick! Would you like to make the noise of Portkeys directly in front of their noses and have them kill you the second you arrive!?" Moody asked his voice rising to a dangerous level while still remaining somewhat quiet for the walk.

Benjy pretty much shut up after that. The must have walked for ten minutes before Moody stopped and turned around to face them all. "Meadows," He said in a quiet voice. "Help me cast concealment charms on everyone."

She nodded and walked through the group placing charms on each of them. "Now, we can see one another, but the Death eaters won't see us." She said as she walked through the group. "However, the second one of them knows exactly where we are they can start to see us, so be careful."

"The place is right around the bend," Moody said pointing down the road with his wand. "Earlier I investigated it and made sure to leave windows open and doors unlocked, it shouldn't be much of a challenge getting inside. However the house is large, much larger inside then it is outside, so be warned not to get lost."

"Well then, let's go," James said anxious to get started on this mission.

"Ol' Prongs is right," Sirius added. "Can't stand around here all day."

"All of you, be careful." McGonagall said. "We'll be going in one pair at a time as to not make too much noise."

The older members of the Order went in first, aside from Dumbledore who would be going in last to make sure everyone got inside alright. Maureen and Benjy were the last to enter. Then crawled in through a back window, they knew that Alice and James had used it earlier, but they were sure they were long gone by now.

"Come on, Ben." Maureen said grabbing his arm and helping him in, with her being shorter and thinner opposed to his rather muscular frame it was easier for her to crawl in. "Don't need you falling behind now."

"Like you'd let me fall behind." He said as he practically fell in, lucky for him, not making to obnoxious of a noise on the ground.

They looked around the large house, it seemed they stood in the kitchen now. The kitchen must have been the size the house appeared to be on the outside, it really was huge. "My gosh," she mumbled under her breath. "The things magic can do." She said, being a Muggle born, Maureen didn't grow up with magic and was still amazed at certain things.

"This is nothing." Benjy said as he walked further in. He on the other hand may not have been a pure blood, but he did grow up with magic all his life, this was noting new to him. "You should have seen what I did to my closet while I was at home, I threw all my rubbish in there."

"I can only imagine." She smiled as they walked into another room, which appeared to be a sitting room. There was a fire place, with hot coals still smoking in it. "Looks like someone was here not to long ago." She said and looked up at Benjy.

"Looks like." He said and walked over to the fire. he picked up one of the pokers and jabbed at it a few times making red sparks fly up out of it. There was a movement in the chimney and he looked up, startled by what he saw he gasped and fell back onto the rug.

Maureen, who was investigating another portion of the room, heard his gasps and turned around. "Ben, what –" she let out a gasp, cutting herself off and froze in her spot, her next action being temporarily paused.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"I swear, Dearborn, you say one more word and I'll hex you myself!" Sirius cried in a very hushed yell.

"I'm just saying, one pure blood to another, how can you like the Foulmouth Falcons!?" He asked, his voice very hushed as well. "How can you, as a pure blood, not like the Ballycastle Bats?"

"The Foulmouth Falcons have had the best beaters in history."

"But the Ballycastle Bats have the best chasers."

"In your opinion, but it has nothing to do with chasers, the beaters are the key. Without beaters the bludgers would be flying every which way, no control what so ever."

"You played beater, didn't you?"

"That I did." Sirius responded with a grin.

"Figures." Caradoc said rolling his eyes.

"Shh." Sirius said and put his hand up. "I think I hear something."

"Death eater." Caradoc said and raised his wand. "About time, we've been wandering around in here forever."

They stood in silence for several seconds wands out and at the ready. But, nothing came. Not at all. "Where's it coming from?" Caradoc asked. "Maybe we should split up and look."

"You heard what Moody said, we're in pairs for a reason." Sirius whispered back.

The Slytherin smirked. "Always do what Mad-Eye says, eh Black?"

Sirius shot a look at Caradoc. "You thick headed prick, even I know this is the time to be serious for once." He said, this time not even making the pun with his name on purpose.

"Well I'm leaving, you can stand here and wait for the death eater or whatever the hell it is to sneak up on you. But I'm going to go sneak up on him." Caradoc said and walked away from Sirius, who tried to protest but his whispered cried could only travel so far.

"Dumb bastard." Sirius mumbled under his breath and backed up against the wall since he no longer had someone watching his six. He looked around and waited for someone to pop out at him, but nothing came. Sighing he lowered his wand and began letting his guard down. It was probably just creaking, old houses did that.

He peeked around the corner he knew Caradoc had walked down. However, he did not see the arrogant Slytherin anywhere in it. Sirius grunted and figured he should go out and try to find him. He may not have been to fond of him, but he was still stuck with him and Moody would be mad if he knew he had let Caradoc wander off alone. Even if he was being a prick about it.

Sirius was about to travel down the corridor further but he heard a noise behind him, now this was defiantly directly behind him. Even though he knew whoever was behind him couldn't see him, he whipped around wand at the ready anyway. He lightly gasped.

"Regulus..." He said staring wide eyed.

His younger brother however, seemed to not notice him even though he spoke, he was shivering, looking around anxiously and whimpering.

"Oh Merlin..." Sirius muttered and lowered his wand at the state he was in.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Caradoc walked down another corridor. He no longer heard the noise, but now it seemed he took a wrong turn because he couldn't exactly find his way back to Sirius. "Bloody hell." He said as he turned down another hallway and still he found nothing familiar. However one thing did catch his eye in this barren hallway. A mask that lay on a table.

"What's this...?" He murmured to himself and walked over to it. Reaching down, he picked up the mask and almost dropped it immediately. It was a Death eaters mask. He looked around as if picking it up had summoned all the death eaters in the world, upon seeing none he looked down to the floor where it not laid. He bent down and picked it up one more time. Only too late did he realize his fatal error.

"Oh shit, it's a Portk-" he never got the rest of his sentence out before he was pulled by his navel and taken away.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

James stared ahead at the doorway to another room, but he couldn't go any further, he was frozen in fear. His breathing labored and his body shaking he reached back and tried to feel for Alice who he thought was still behind him. "A – A... Ali...ce..." He said.

Unfortunately Alice wasn't behind him, before any of this happened she had wandered a few feet away to check something out and in doing so she activated a jinx. She was trapped behind an invisible wall, her wand was useless in here, only James could get her out. "James, please, listen to me." She cried out to him, banging on the invisible barrier.

He didn't even acknowledge he heard her, he just stared ahead at the giant chimera that stood in front of him.

"James, please, I know you can hear me!" She cried out to him. "James, it's a boggart! I know you learned this third year! I know you did! Basic defense, please, just trust me!"

Slowly James's wand raised into the air.

"That's it James, now _riddikulus_, just say it! Say it and think funny..."

"F... Fun... Funny...?" James stuttered in a small voice.

"That's right James, it's a boggart, it's not real. It just startled you because you didn't know it was there. It's not a real chimera!"

"Not real... not real." James said and raised his wand to it. What was happening to him? It was just a boggart, no boggart has ever done this to him before. "_Rid...riddik... riddikulus..._" James said in a shaky voice and looked down.

"Where's that Gryffindor courage?" Alice called out. "Come on James, You're better then that!"

James took a breath and looked up at the 'chimera' ahead of him. He smirked at it, "just a boggart you are." He murmured. "_Riddikulus_!"

With that the chimera gave away into a small kitten that sat at his feet, with a meow the boggart disappeared into the air. James sighed and fell to his knees. He never really told anybody, of his fear of chimeras. Every since they studied them in fifth year he's been scared of them. He didn't even really know why. He was so scared of it, he didn't know a boggart had popped out at him, he honestly thought it was a chimera, one that was for some reason hiding out in this house.

He rubbed his face with his hand and then through his hair a few times to make it more messy then it already was. As he sat there in his thoughts he forgot about Alice who was still trapped within the jinx behind him.

"Uh, James?" She asked breaking his concentration. "I know you're kinda shaken up, but I'd like to... well get outta here now."

"Oh... um, yea, sorry." He said and stood on shaky legs and walked over to the jinx that Alice was currently trapped in. Since he had no idea what sort of jinx it was and he was never the very best at counter jinxes it took a few tries before he finally broke it.

"Are you okay?" Alice asked putting her hand on one of his tense shoulders. "You really freaked out."

"Yeah, I'm fine..." James said and shrugged her off. "Let's just continue on, right? That noise was bound to bring something out from hiding."

Alice sighed as he walked away from her, obviously he didn't want to talk. Maybe once they got out of this God forsaken house and he was with his friends again, and with Lily. Maybe to them, he'd stop being such a hermit. It was weird, calling James Potter, one of the most sociable people she knew, a hermit.

Quickly realizing James has starting walking on without her she caught up with him in silence. If he didn't want to talk, she wouldn't push him, she did however know three boys who would.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Sturgis, are you okay?" Heather asked walking up to the slightly older man. "I don't think there's any Death eaters in this house, I mean you think we would've found one by now."

"Heather, something's weird here."

"I know this place is creepy."

"No, there's spells I think. Spells, are cast everywhere I can feel them." He said walking around and looking around as if the walls were covered in poltergeists and ghosts.

"There's that bloody Divination kicking in, I don't know how you did so well in that class." She said looking around trying to 'feel' it too, but being very unsuccessful. "Think maybe you're just paranoid?"

He shot her a look. "Heather, I'm serious! This place isn't right, I think maybe Death eaters were here but they did something to this house, they knew we'd be here so they did something to sabotage it or something."

"Okay, so, what'd you want to do about it?" She asked, "Go send a Patronus to Dumbledore? Get out, tell someone? What?"

Sturgis didn't answer her, he walked down another hall trying to figure out what to do, with Heather on his heals. But then he stopped in the middle of the hallway and shushed Heather. "D'you hear that?"

"No."

"Don't move."

"What?"

"Don't move."

"Why?"

"The floor, it's creaking."

"It's an old house."

"No." He argued. "It'll break or something. Oh my God... look at the walls... Devil's Snare."

And it was true all down the walls were crawling large thick vines. It was Devil's Snare, Heather remembered it from Herbology.

"Oh damn..." She said looking around.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Peter was sitting on the floor eyes wide and wand on the floor away the room from him. In front of his stood the same problem that James was having moments before. A boggart was in front of him, taking the shape of a large gray werewolf. It was towering over him and snarling with white foam dripping from its mouth.

He stared up at him, trying to transform into a rat and scurry away, but he was unable to. This house did something, he's encountered a boggart before, he was able to transform into a rat and when the boggart no longer saw him it retreated back into its cupboard or into the closet or wherever it came from.

But he couldn't change. This boggart was different then the other ones he's encountered.

"Peter!"

He couldn't even look around and find who was calling his name his eyes were fixated on the werewolf standing ahead of him.

"Wormtail!?" Remus called out looking for his friend. "Where are... you...?" He trailed off as he walked into the room where Peter sat, a werewolf towering over him. He could describe the pain that jolted through him when he saw the werewolf standing above Peter. It was a boggart, he knew, he was always good at them. But why was Peter afraid of werewolves? Was he afraid of him?

Remus sighed and rubbed his face before lifting his wand and stepping closer to the werewolf. Before it could even transform into the full moon he was able to turn the werewolf into a harmless little puppy.

It seemed that he and James had similar ideas of defeating boggarts.

"Remus?" Peter asked looking up and seeing him walking away. "Moony, no, it's not that."

"Scared of werewolves? To the point where you're immobile to even a boggart?" Remus asked turning around. "How long have you been sacred of us?"

"I – I'm not scared of you," Peter said. "It wasn't a normal boggart, honest, Moony, it was weird."

"Yeah, I'm sure it was." Remus said and walked away from his friend.

Peter sighed and before running after Remus who was walking away from him at a quickened pace bent down and picked up his wand. "Wait, Remus, no. It was the boggart! It did something it was weird. Yes, okay, I'm scared of werewolves, but only when I can't transform and I tried transforming, I can't!"

Remus turned his head around and glared at him through yellow eyes. "Oh yes, you couldn't transform! You've only been doing it for five bloody years!"

"N - no, really, I couldn't! I think there's a jinx or something here, I couldn't change I don't know, Moony, I'm not good at this." Peter said getting into a panic attack. "Please, Remus, please, don't be mad I need your help I can't be here alone."

Remus knew he shouldn't be mad at his friend, lots of people who accepted him for what he was were still scared of werewolves in a whole. But it hurt, just to see how he reacted in front of it, what was he thinking when he saw him transform? Remus cringed and bowed his head, even his closet friends, were still scared of him. He ran his hand through his hair, he still heard the quick footsteps of Peter. He was having trouble keeping up, Remus was quite tall, a lot taller then Pete who had to struggle to catch up.

Remus opened up another door only to have another boggart jump out in front of him. "Oh shit, for Merlin's sake." A frustrated Remus said and held up his wand as the boggart turned into a silvery full moon. However, before he could cast the defense spell on it, he froze and stared at his hand.

"Remus?" Peter asked as he caught up to his friend and saw the full moon. "What's wrong? Kill it! Remus? Is it effecting you too? I told you, c'mon you can beat it."

"Run, Pete..."

"What? Moony, what's wrong?"

"Run." Remus said staring at his now fur covered hand with his once nails now becoming long sharp claws before his eyes.

Remus turned around to face Peter, who gasped when he saw long fangs growing out of his mouth. "Run, Wormtail... please."


	31. Fear Itself Part II

Fear Itself Part II

"Regulus? What are you doing here?" Sirius asked, wand still raised.

Regulus looked around nervously, twitching at the slightest noise.

Sirius stared at his brother, wand still raised ready to strike if this was a trap. But it didn't seem to be, all his attention had been on his brother for the past several seconds. If he was in a trap they would have attacked by now. But, Sirius did still have the spell cast on him, Regulus was the only death eater who could see him.

"Well?" Regulus asked suddenly in a small quivering voice, startling Sitius. "Are you going to kill me, or just stare?"

"Why are you here?"

"I ran." Regulus breathed. "I left him, a fugitive now. Not only does the Ministry want me dead for siding with the Dark Lord but now the Dark Lord wants me dead for leaving him. I have no where to go."

"How do I know you're not a spy, and that you're not trying to manipulate me?" He asking raising his wand higher, his auror training kicking in, as if he would kill him if the wrong answer was given.

Regulus scoffed. "Please Sirius, don't insult the Dark Lord, if this were an ambush you'd be dead by now and you know that."

"_Accio Regulus wand_." Sirius said pointing his wand to the place he knew where he kept his wand. But nothing happened.

"I don't have a wand." The younger of the two Black's explained. "I lost it when I ran... so you know then I'm no threat, I'm not here to kill you... or anyone for that matter."

"Then why are you here?"

"I ran." Regulus repeated. "I told you, I have no where to go."

Sirius swallowed a lump in his throat, the next thing he did could either be the smartest or the stupidest thing he has ever done in his life. "You could... come with me." He said hesitantly.

Regulus shook his head and looked down, shuffling back slightly.

"Regulus, please, come with me." Sirius pleaded to his distraught brother. "We can protect you from Voldemort."

Regulus lightly cringed at the name.

Sirius advanced on him, trying not to seem threatening, but he was always had a stronger build and was taller then his little brother. It was hard. "If you come with me we can put you in hiding, we can get you a secret keeper and he'll never get to you. I promise." He held out his hand to him. "Take my hand, I know you're scare of him, but I can help."

Regulus seemed to have gained a new confidence for he stood up straight and gave his elder brother a disapproving look. "Scared? Scared of the ma... of the monster I once called my lord? Who isn't? You must be, yet you fight him. I applaud you Sirius, you saw what a monster he was from the beginning, but now I'm wanted more by the Dark Lord then you. I am scared of him, but I'm going to get him, one way or another I will take the Dark Lord down with me."

"With you?" Sirius asked. "You're not going to die Regulus, I know, you made bad choices, but you were a child, you didn't know any better."

"I knew what I was doing, you rebelled when you were a child, before Hogwarts even you rebelled. I was weak, they took me and warped my mind the second I was born, you were always the strong one Sirius."

"Well then now it's the time for you to be the strong one. Join us, fight against him."

Regulus seemed to laugh at this, almost as if he were insane. "Join you? Join The Order of the Phoenix, the ones who I have fought in combat. No, I don't think so."

"Combat? You... You're still in Hogwarts..." Sirius said disbelievingly.

"The Dark Lord doesn't care; he'll throw children into battle if it means he's that much closer to winning. Besides, I'm not anymore, I left Hogwarts, it wasn't safe enough. I'm not going to put the rest of the students in danger because one made a stupid decision and joined the Dark Lord. I'll do this on my own."

"You're only sixteen."

"I'm seventeen!" Regulus explained, he then smirked, an old memory flooding into his mind. "Remember when we were children, those marvelous few months when it seemed I was only a year younger then you, until your birthday?"

"I remember." Sirius nodded.

"It just passed, didn't it? Not long ago. You're nineteen now?"

Sirius nodded. "Oldest Marauder of all."

"Yes, I remember, you and you're friends, The Marauders." Regulus smiled slightly but it quickly went back to a pain filled frown. "I wish I had a childhood like that, but all my free time was spent groveling to a false lord. Sirius, I'm not the best little brother I know, I gave you grief I'm the reason father... it's my fault he... That you ran away... well, I'm sorry."

"You've really grown, you know that." Sirius said, his wand no longer even raised, he was holding it loosely in his hand at his side.

Regulus nodded and then looked around, once again very jumpy and alert. "I shouldn't linger, I have things I have to do."

"What things? Where do you have to go? Why can't you let me be a big brother and protect you?" Sirius said getting slightly outraged.

"I have to go." Regulus said as he began to walk away.

Sirius ran in front of him and placed his hands on his shoulders. "What are you afraid of him doing?"

"I can't stay in one place, I'm connected to him!" Regulus ripped up his sleeve exposing the dark mark. "He'll find me if I stay here too long. I've only been here because he once resided here, he wouldn't come back to quickly. The Dark Lord is smart Sirius, much smarter then you think he is. Be careful, would you?"

"W – Wait!" Sirius cried as Regulus tore himself away from Sirius's grip. "Regulus! Come back here!" He roared.

"Sorry, bro." Regulus smiled genuinely one last time. "Can't do that, I can't risk it."

"REGULUS!" Sirius roared once more before his younger brother apparated with a pop.

Sirius stared off at the spot where he disappeared into for several minutes until he sighed and lowered his head. He bought his hand up and rubbed the back of his neck before turning around to go continue his search for his missing partner, Caradoc Dearborn. He could worry over his little brother later, but now he had other things he had to worry baout.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Sturgis struggled under the vines that quickly covered his feet and crawled up his legs. He tried to lift his feet to run away but the more he lifted his legs the more they grabbed at him and tried to pull him down. "Heather... Heather help, what do we do?"

She trembled as she tried to stand still and the devil's snare crawled slowly up her legs. "What..." She said calmly and with a far out sound in her voice, as if she was trying to mentally be as far away as possible. "Divination can't help you?" She asked in a mocking tone.

"No! Heather, it can't! Help!" He cried.

"Just stand still." She said closing her eyes, being the top Care of magical Creatures student she was outside with the gamekeeper and her professor after class often, and in doing so came by Professor Sprout quite a lot by the greenhouses. She became quite a good student in Herbolgy by doing this.

"But... Heather, it's crawling up my bloody legs!"

"More like your torso now."

"Heather help me!"

"Just stand still." She said more forcefully. "They'll leave you alone."

"I'm trying, I can't help it if the feeling of being squeezed to death doesn't sound to appetizing to me!"

"But they'll leave you alone if you stand still, see, look at me. They're not crawling up my legs at all now are they?" She asked opening her eyes and shooting a look towards the slightly older wizard.

"But they're not leaving either." He moaned as they began to constrict his legs more.

Heather looked down and indeed they weren't. They still moved over her shoes, they just didn't travel any further up. "Now why aren't they leaving?" She asked herself quietly.

She head a choking sound to her left and looked over to see a vine wrap around the neck of her friend. "Heather..." He forced out. "Please... do something."

It seemed he had stopped moving, but that was probably not by his own accord. The devil's snare knew where he was, it could feel his heartbeat. There was no escaping it now. Heather looked down, she had begun to fidget, they were crawling up her legs now.

"Dammit..." She breathed as she took out her wand. There was no attack she could use. An attack may blast away one at her feet, but the attack and movement would only cause more to come, and quicker. If she attacked, then they would both be dead before they had a chance to scream.

She looked over to Sturgis, he had been forced to the ground now. They were going up around his neck and she could see him struggle to breath, he was smart, he wasn't wasting his breath and energy on calling to her for help. He knew she was doing all she could to try and think of a way to get them out of this.

"Professor Sprout..." She spoke aloud letting him know she was indeed thinking. "After class I stayed... I was waiting for Hagrid, he promised to bring me a creature, a new one something Grubby-Plank couldn't teach in class..." She looked toward Sturgis, she could tell he knew that she was stalling time while she tried to think. "Sprout... she said something... something about devil's snare..."

There was a pain filled grunt from the direction of Sturgis, Heather looked and gasped at the sight, his lips were turning blue and his eyes were wide.

"Um... she... she had some, for her next class, we'd be learning it soon... But she said it would obey a jinx, to stay even at the slightest of movement so it wouldn't leave..." The realization dawned upon her, the devil's snare had been jinxed. That's why it didn't leave when she had stopped moving.

"There was a rhyme, she told me, just because it popped into her head, it wasn't entirely true but she said there's truth to all old rhymes. It was... it was, um, devil's snare, devil's snare..." She tried to think tried to remember back to her first year. "Devil's snare, devil's snare, its deadly fun... but..."

There was a snap and Sturgis's mouth opened wide in a silent scream. The devil's snare had broken a bone.

Oh God!" Heather cried, realizing she might not be able to save them in time, or at all, the devil's snare was around her hips now, and she could feel the pressure.

"It's deadly fun... but... but it'll... rhymes with fun... rhymes with fun..." She muttered trying to think of the word.

She took one more glance at Sturgis who looked on the brink of death.

"Deadly fun... but it'll sulk in the sun! That's it fire!" She screamed with joy and raised her wand the movement causing the devils snare to crawl up her body faster, but she didn't care. "_Incendio_!" She cried and fire erupted from her wand making the devil's snare scurry away in seconds.

She looked down to see Sturgis still on the ground to the left of her. Taking a sharp intake of breath and moaned and leaned down next to him. His arms were pinned tightly against his chest, one of them was at an odd angle. "Oh no..." Heather moaned as she saw his stillness. "Sturgis? C'mon Sturgis wake up. C'mon you dumb ass, wake up." She cried as she shook him.

But then a thought hit her like a ton of bricks. She was a witch.

Raising her wand she placed it on him and sighed, calming her nerves so she could perform the charm correctly. She wondered if this would still work, for it wasn't a stunner spell that had knocked Sturgis out. "_Rennervate_." She said as a light appeared at the end of her wand. She held her breath waiting for it too work, and sure enough in seconds his eyes were open.

"Heather?" He asked.

"That's right, told you I knew how to do it."

He smirked at her. "No... you di – ahh!" he broke off as he moved his arm ever so slightly.

"It's your arm, right?" She asked and he nodded painfully. "I knew it, well I can't mend bones, we'll have to wait for Remus, or maybe Andy or Sirius, or I'm sure Laura could. But I can't mend them. But I can bind them, so just bare with this, this is going to hurt." She said before casting a small charm. A bandage wrapped around his injured arm and he winced.

"My rib..."

"Huh?" Heather said raising her eyebrows.

"My rib, it hurts, I think it's broken too."

"I only heard one snap." Heather said baffled.

Sturgis, through his pain, glared at her. "Well then one decided to be quiet, because it's broken." He grimaced at her and then shut his eyes in pain.

"Okay, okay, I'll send a message to Dumbledore or whatever via patronus." She said and conjured one, it was a dog, a German Shepherd by the looks of it. "Go," she said to it. "Go find someone, anyone from the Order and tell them we need help, bring them here." She commanded of it.

It ran off leaving a silvery white trail behind it.

She looked back down at Sturgis. "Now, all we have to do is wait."

"With you?" He asked. "Oh Merlin... kill me now."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Dorcas Meadows and Andy ran through the halls with theirs hands gripped together. They had lost each other once before and by luck found one another, they weren't about to go through that again. And it was likely that they could, the two girls were being chased by nothing really. But when they opened a door boggarts jumped out at them both. This was the third time they had been ambushed, the first two times it had seen Dorcas first. They weren't even going to let the boggarts see them this time, or let them see what they feared most. They just ran without looking for a thing.

Finally they stopped in the middle of a hallway and kneeled down. Both breathing hard and trying to catch their breath. "God damn things are everywhere." Andy said as she leaned back against the wall.

"Someone had to of put them here, there's now way this many boggarts are just in this house by coincidence. And ya know what? I'd bet my bottom dollar the rest have run into just as many, and these are not normal boggarts. It's like a boggart times ten." Dorcas said.

"They must have known we'd be here then, the Death eaters must've left us these boggarts to make us go away. But why? I mean it's not like there's anythin' in this house that can kill us, just scare us."

"You don't know that." The other girl replied. "We haven't been in nearly all the rooms. There could be other things hidden."

Andy nodded. "Other things hidden, maybe there's somethin' here that they dun want us to find."

"But what could it be." Dorcas wondered out loud. "I mean what could be so important that he would go to this extent to hide it from us?"

"I don't know." She shook her head.

"Whatever it is, I think we should go find Mad-Eye or Dumbledore." Dorcas said looking down and the floor and then back up at Andy. "We need to regroup, we can't do this split up into such small teams."

"Ya read my mind." Andy smirked and the two stood up again. They walked down the hall for several seconds before they heard quick footsteps ahead of them. They exchanged looks and took their wands out, ready to attack.

The steps just got louder and louder and the girls found themselves taking more and more steps backward. But finally a figure found its way around the corner, they raised their wands to attack but stopped themselves when they realized just who this figure was and sighed.

"Peter!" They exclaimed.

"What're ya doin' here?" Andy asked as she ran up to him. "Where's Remus?" She asked the second she realized he was not with him.

"He ran away." Peter said through labored breathing and he leaned down and put his hands on his knees.

"Why?" Dorcas asked.

Peter looked up at her from his position. "He... he transformed, or partially... anyway. The boggart... it became the full moon when he saw it... and he... he began transforming. I tried to..." He looked at Dorcas for a split second, she didn't know he was an animagus. "I tried to help him." He looked at Andy hoping she would get his meaning. "I tried to help, but I couldn't, something was stopping me."

"S... so... he's in his transformed state?" Dorcas asked looking around nervously.

"Oh God." Andy breathed as she looked around as well.

"Well I'm not sure he is, last I saw him he was halfway and he sort of stopped." Peter said as he stood up straighter, now catching his breath more.

"It does take a while to transform... but if he just stopped..." Andy trailed off, not quite sure what to make of this. "We have to find him." Andy concluded.

"But what if he did transform?" Dorcas asked as she saw Andy begin to walk off.

She shrugged in response. "Then I guess I have a werewolf on my hands."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Laura walked through the dark halls her wand ready to attack any boggart that jumped out at her. She had run into several, lucky for her she was either able to run to hide before it took to much of a hold on her and her partner Edgar Bones. She was lucky he was there, he was a stronger wizard then she was witch.

They had linked their arms as to not get separated in this madness, it was a good thing he was a lefty and she was a righty. They each clutched their wands like a life line.

"Look at that." Edgar said as a light appeared from around the hallway. "It's either a lumous charm or –"

"A patronus." Laura finished as they saw the German Shepherd patronus run around the corner. "Looks like Heather's." She said as she kneeled down next to the patronus as it settled on the ground.

"Of course, who else has a dog patronus."

"Sirius." Laura answered looking up at him.

Edgar furrowed his brow and thought about it for a moment. "Well... not a Shepherd at least. So it's Heather's." He changed the subject back to the patronus. "So, why's it here?"

Laura looked at the patronus and her eyes widened, realizing its true purpose. "It's not a normal patronus, it's a messenger spell!" She cried and she looked up at Edgar for a moment. She stared at it and listened to the message it had to send. "Oh my God!" She said and raised her hands to her mouth. "Sturgis is injured! We have to go find them."

The dog patronus leaped into the air and turned around. Upon seeing that it would not disintegrate Laura and Edgar proceeded to follow the patronus to find the exact location of their injured and lost friends.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Sirius walked around the house, Dearborn was still lost. He wasn't sure if he would ever find him. Despite the fact he was against the rights of any creature that wasn't fully human, he was still fighting Voldemort. And that gave him some credit... just some.

He could try and find him by sending a message with his patronus charm, but there was no guarantee that he would get it, or that if he did find it they could still find one another. Besides, he was a strong wizard, as much as Sirius hated to say, he was capable of handling himself. He was sure he was fine. And if he wasn't... then they would have to deal with it.

He moaned, this was starting to get boring, just walking through these seemingly endless hallways. Sirius took a look around and decided to make it a little bit more interesting. Smirking he slid his wand in his pocket and in a flash he was down on all fours and in the shape of a giant black dog.

He jogged through the hallways every now and then leaving a drop of slobber in his wake. Only once did he feel the need to stop, and that was because he had to scratch himself behind the ears. James had often said he should make his change into a dog permanent, he said Sirius looked much better as a dog. However there was only one drawback in Sirius's opinion. The fleas. They were everywhere, no matter now much he scratched or jumped in the water they were still there.

As he resumed walked through the halls he found he couldn't smell anything out of the ordinary, nothing aside from the normal smell of a house and Order members. No one strange was in this house. But, thee was one sent, he picked up, it was weird. Putting his nose to the floor Sirius sniffed around to try and find the source of the sent, it took him some time and some back tracking but he was able to follow it to a room a few floors up.

When he arrived at the room he jumped on in his back legs and pushed the door open with his front paws. The second he walked in he took a step back and scrunched his nose up. The room reeked, the one sent he could place as a snake, he remembered in the Slytherin dorms one of the boys had one. He had pranked their room plenty of times, so he remembered the sent. But the other one... it was so strange.

Sniffing around he found a pile of old papers in the corner. He nudged it with his nose and the stack fell over. It was a bunch of old news papers and parchment that held various dates. Sirius transformed into his human form and picked up the papers. He cast a spell on them to reduce them in size before sliding them into his coat pocket.

He slid the wand back into his pocket and transformed back into a dog. As he left the room he jogged down the hall, continuing his search for Dearborn, or anyone for that matter. But, he didn't have to go far. There was an all too familiar sent, if you looked at the dog, you could have sworn he smiled.

But that smile quickly faded with another few good sniffs, something was off about the sent. Sirius bolted off in the direction of the smell, it was so familiar, but too familiar in this form. He began running around the house in hopes of finding the right trail and finding the friend of who it belonged to.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Lily had gotten separated from Frank long ago, he told her to run when they were attacked by devil's snare, she wasn't quite in the room yet so she was able to get away. She prayed he managed to escape as well. She sent out a patronus to find help, but she wasn't sure it made it.

She walked down the hallway, breathing hard, she had just faced the strongest boggart she had ever encountered. It wasn't normal. She reached her hands up and pulled her slightly curly red hair back and out of her face, she then conjured a hair tie and held it back. She regretted not having done this when they first entered the house. If you could call this place a house, it was massive.

She sighed as she turned another corner, but as she turned she saw someone and gasped. She clapped her hand over her mouth and pined herself back against the wall praying whoever it was didn't see her. But then she looked back and saw that this stranger was familiar. It was Remus, on the floor leaning against the wall with his legs pulled up against his chest and face hidden in his knees.

"Remus?" She asked in her soft voice. He must have known she was coming because he didn't flinch or move in the slightest bit when she spoke.

"Go away, Lily." He said in a pain filled voice with a slight lisp in his words.

"Moony?" She said with some humor. Over the years she had become accustomed to calling them by their nicknames from time to time, just never with James.

"Go away." He repeated, his voice breaking.

Her smile faded and she moved closer. "Remus, are you okay?" She asked ignoring his pleads for her to leave. As she moved closer Remus seemed to flinch away and in his movement she saw the now fur covered claw that replaced his hand. She gasped and jogged the rest of the way and knelt down to him. "My God Remus, what happened to you?"

She brushed some hair out of his face with her hand and he moved his head ever so slightly so he could see her. And upon seeing her, it meant she could see him. When she moved the tawny hair out of the way she saw a golden bloodshot eye surrounded in black.

He could see the shock and pain that washed over her face and he buried his face deeper into his knees. "Go away, Lily... please." He moaned again.

She shook her head. "No, I'm not going to, you obviously need help, so I'm here to give it to you. Now, tell me what happened." She said making herself more comfortable on the floor and placing her arm around his shoulders in a comforting way.

"The boggart... it became the full moon, I don't know what happened." He said looking up at her with one tear filled eye. "I started changing, I don't know what's going on."

"Look at me." She said putting her hands on her shoulders. "Let me see your face."

He kept his head down and refused. But with slight pressure she pushed his upward. With his now enhanced strength he could have easily fought her off, but something in the back of his mind let her push him up.

She didn't wince, or flinch, or do anything really when his half transformed face was revealed. She didn't stare at the long fangs that peeked past his lips and caused the lisp that he now spoke with, or the yellow eyes, or the fur that lined his jaw line... not even the blackened nose.

She gave a small reassuring smile and cupped his wolfish face with her hand. "Not that bad." She said with humor hinting her voice.

Remus avoided her gave blinked out a few tears.

"Aw, now don't cry. You'll change back. I know you will."

He shook his head. "But what if I don't? I don't know why I changed in the first place. What if there was a curse or something and now I'm stuck like this? Letting everyone know the monster I really am?"

She shook her head. "No, you're not a monster, you're just a boy who happen to have something terrible happen to them. It didn't change who you are, if you weren't a werewolf, you'd still be a Marauder, you'd still be Remus Lupin. Now Remus, I recall us telling you this more the once. When is it going to sink in? Or will we have to tell you whenever you're reminded of your lycanthropy?"

"No... it's just Peter... his boggart, it was a werewolf. I mean... is he scared of me? All we've been through, he's still scared of me."

"I'm sure that's not it, did you give him a chance to explain?"

"He said he was only scared when he couldn't become the rat." Remus said like a child confessing to a lie they had told earlier. "But all the same, he was scared of the werewolf... he didn't get to say much more because then... this happened." He said and looked down at the claws that replaced his hands.

"When we meet up with Peter later I'm sure he'll be so happy you're alright. I'm sure he's worried about you."

Remus didn't respond.

"Are you going to help me look for the others? This place creeps me out a bit. I kinda wanna leave." She said brushing some hair out of her face that fell from her ponytail.

He looked unsure and then nodded his head.

She smiled at him and stood, taking his hand and helping him up being mindful of the sharp claws. "Come on, let's go. We can find Sirius and James and Peter and Heather and Laura..." she raised an eyebrow. "And Andy, I'm sure she'd find this kinky."

Remus laughed, although it came out more of a hoarse dry laugh them a good hearted one. "Probably would." He said quietly.

As it turned out they only had to walk a few steps before a black dog ran around the corner. In one fluid motion the dog changed into a tall boy in his late teens with a worried look. "Oh I knew somthing was wrong! I could smell it." He said and walked over to Remus and embraced him. "I couldn't tell you how worried about you I was when I smelled you like this." He pulled away and looked at Remus, he took his half transformed face in and nodded. "We'll get you outta this, mate. No worries, I promise you that."

Remus smiled slightly though the teeth and as the trio walked down and hall he couldn't help but keep the smile on, maybe it would all be okay.

Lisa: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (If you do in fact celebrate Christmas but if you don't happy/merry whatever holiday you celebrate!)

Heather: That covers it all I think.

Lisa: I think it does. Now a few notes about this chapter, I know that in the first movie Hermione made the devil's snare go away with sunlight. This is incorrect, according to the book it's fire that makes the devil's snare go away.

Heather: Lisa be a smart person...

Lisa: I is be... Also for that last boost Remus self esteem and make him feel better thing it was supposed to be Sirius, but I think we've been down that path with Sirius. So I shoved Lily in there. Besides I happen to be watching Prisoner of Azkaban and we were at the bridge scene that may have had something to do with it. Well bye guys! I'll be back! Before New Year's maybe since I'm off from school.


	32. Fear Itself Part III

Lisa: Whoa hey I'm back! Sorry this took so long, it would have been up last weekend but I went to Madison Square Garden to watch PBR! For those non PBR fans, that's Professional Bull Riding. I love it!

Heather: We know... we aaaaaaaaalllllllll know...

Lisa: Well anyway, thanks for your feedback, wish I could get some more (wink wink nudge nudge) but meh whatever.

Heather: Well go, run free and enjoy the chapter...

Lisa: Yes! Enjoy! This is the last chapter I'll be typing on my old computer!

Heather: Whoooo!!!!

Lisa: Yaaaaaaaaaay!

Fear Itself Part III

Laura ran down the hallway following the white light of the patronus ahead of her. It was going a bit fast, but she had not trouble keeping up with it. The light, it gave off a long silvery white trail in its wake and even if she could no longer see the patronus she could see the light. It was taking her places she had never known were even there in this house, and she thought that they had explored this whole area. Was it taking her in short cuts? Or opening that were just created by magic? Or maybe it was somehow making its own opening in the walls. However it was happing she was glad it was.

She could hear Edgar behind her he was probably keeping up better then she was, but was allowing her to be ahead of him, taking care of things that would sneak up on them. Or was he making her take care of the things ahead of them? Either way, she knew the patronus wouldn't take them into any place that had immediate danger.

Soon she entered a large room, it seemed like the patronus had stopped in its tracks and it stood in the middle of the room next to a small hand made fire place. Laura looked around and saw that just a bit away from the fire was Heather sitting next to Sturgis. It looked like they were arguing.

Sighing, Laura walked over and pasted right through the patronus making it fade away into the air. "Anything I can help you lot with?" She asked placing her hand on her hips.

"Laura!" Heather exclaimed and shot up. "About time someone got here, Christ, I've been waiting forever."

She rolled her eyes and knelt down next to him. "What exactly is the problem?" She asked as she took her wand out and began taking in all the damage.

"Well one rib is cracked, and he says his arm is broken, but I don't believe him. I mean I only heard one crack and that was it. If it was broken I would have heard that break as well. He's just being a cry baby." She said as she knelt down as well.

"It _is _broken!" He exclaimed and winced as Laura tenderly touched the arm.

"I don't know if it's broken or not, there's swelling everywhere, and you'll be pretty badly bruised… What happened?" Laura asked as she saw these odd wounds.

"Devil's snare." Heather answered.

Laura nodded. "Well that explains the fire."

"He wouldn't be in such bad condition if he just did what I told him and stayed still!"

"Well I wouldn't be in such condition if you thought of the bloody spell in time!" Sturgis yelled.

"Not my fault I have trouble remembering things that happened seven years ago! Maybe if you paid better attention in class then you would have remembered yourself!"

"Who says I didn't remember!?"

"If you did then why not say the spell yourself rather then crying like a baby for me to do it!?"

"You'd be crying like a baby too if you were getting constricted by devil's snare!"

"I _was_ getting constricted!"

"Guys…" Laura said interrupting them as they continued to yell at one another. She looked around the room with wide eyes and fear etching into her face. "Where'd Edgar go?"

Heather and Sturgis ended their argument abruptly and looked around as well. Heather stood, Laura was still caring for Sturgis on the ground, but with one eyes looking around for him.

"Maybe…" Heather began as she turned in circles looking. "Maybe he… you know what? He's probably right around the corner making sure it's all safe, or ya know what? He's probably gonna pop out and scare us half to death." She said as she walked over to the neighboring hallway. "Edgar Bones you git! Get out here!"

Laura swallowed a lump in her throat as she looked back down to the badly bruised chest and stomach of Sturgis Podemore. "Oh God…" She murmured, knowing that they wouldn't get out of this one too easy.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Albus, we have to give up this search." Minerva McGonagall said as she walked down the hall with him. They were originally on their own for this, but she had teamed up with the Headmaster as time went on. Thinking it was best if they were not alone. She only hoped that everyone else had found someone to be with, hopefully the younger members of the Order had been able to stay in their pairs.

The old man nodded. "I know, but I am not sure how to do that. We could get out, but there's no way to tell everyone to get out, we have no idea where everyone is."

"Send a messenger patronus." She suggested.

"I could do that, but if I did then I would also alert any unwanted people in this house of what we're doing. Besides, even if we did all get together, it would be hard to find the way out. A messenger patronus can do a lot, but it can not find the way out of this place for us."

She nodded and then turned around sharply as if she saw something behind her. "Albus," she began sternly. "We're getting those children together, now. So if you don't send out a message to them I will."

"I think it would be best we both did." He smiled and raised his wand, Minerva did the same and both on them in unison cast the patronus charm. A phoenix burst from Dumbledore's wand and a cat from McGonagall's, the two animals looked back at the ones who cast them.

"Go find anyone you can and bring them here." Dumbledore commanded of the patronus's.

"What if there are death eater's about?" She asked him.

"Then we fight." He answered.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Sirius had his arm around Remus's shoulders as they walked down the halls, Lily with her arms around his waist. Remus still kept his head down and his hands in his pockets, whenever there was a sound or movement he would jump and growl, rather then jump and gasp. Sirius was used to this, being with him on pretty much every full moon for the past three years, Lily on the other hand... not so much.

When ever Remus had made any inhuman noise she tried not to make a face, or flinch away but it was weird, she had never seen him transform, or transformed. Hell, she had never even seen a real werewolf before. But apparently he somehow noticed her distress and looked down in a whimper.

"Aw, Remy." She said and stopped to give him a hug. Sirius stopped to and let her hug him, feeling great sympathy for his lycanthrope friend. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it honest. It's just this place, makes ya jumpy." She said pulling away.

He nodded his head. "I know, I know you don't mean it Lils..." He lisped, still not used to the large fangs.

"Are you going to look up now?" She asked.

He shook his head.

"C'mon o'l buddy." Sirius said wrapping his arm around his shoulders. "Let's go find Dumbles, he can fix it. He can fix everything."

"That might be going a bit far, don't you think?" Remus asked with a grin, looking up slightly.

Sirius shook his head confidently. "You should know better then anyone, Moony. Dumbledore is the greatest wizard of all time, he knows all and he can solve all." He ranted with his arm that wasn't currently around his friend spread out.

"Right." Remus said as they turned a corner and the second they made this turn a large silvery phoenix stood, or rather floated, before them. "That's Dumbledore's patronus." Remus said with his head fully up and staring wide eyed with his mouth open. "What's it doing here?"

"I told you so." Sirius said and the phoenix turned around.

Lily began jogging after it. "I bet we have to follow it."

"Brilliant deduction Lily." He responded sarcastically as he followed her down the hall along with Remus.

The trio took many turns throughout the house and almost stopped as they reached a flight of unsteady stairs. The patronus just floated up them but the actual people that stood at the bottom stared at the old steps in worry. The patronus must have noticed they were no longer following it because it turned and went down about half way and then came back up.

"It must be safe." Remus said looking at the stairs, not believing his own words.

"Yeah..." Lily agreed poking the steps with her toe. "The patronus wouldn't lead us to a place that wasn't safe... right?"

"You pansies." Sirius said and bolted up the stairs two at a time.

"Sirius!" Remus cried and chased his friend up the stairs. "You idiot you'll get yourself killed!"

"Both of you!" Lily screamed from the bottom as she clutched the banisters with her hands making her knuckles turn white. "Come back here! You reckless gits!" She yelled as she began walking up the stairs more carefully.

When she reached the top she let out a long breath, thankful that she was able to get up there without falling to her death. "I'm going to kill you both." She said with closed eyes, leaning up against the wall.

"Well, do it later cuz we're losing the phoenix." Sirius said and the three set off again following it.

It was only about another five minutes or so of running through the house taking various turns and twists until they reached a dead end. The phoenix disappeared into the air around them and they were left to stare at the wall in utter confusion. "What's going on...?" Sirius said as he slowly took his wand out, fearing a trap.

Lily took hers out as well; Remus on the other hand felt no need for a wand. The only weapon he needed at the moment was his claws and fangs. They were threatening enough he thought.

Two figures then seemed to appear out of the woodwork and walk closer. Sirius was about to throw about a spell until he felt his wand leave his hand, someone had performed magic without speaking. The taller figure grabbed the wand he had stolen from Sirius and in the dark; Sirius could have sworn he had seen a twinkle in the eye of the person.

"Sirius, my boy, you must keep a better grip on your wand."

"Professor!" Sirius said with relief, as they all calmed down and smiled slightly, now that they knew that this was no threat. "Why... why in Merlin's name were you hiding in the woodwork?"

"In case of unpleasant visitors." He responded. "I'm glad you're all safe."

"Well... not really." Lily said and gave Remus and nudge forward. "Something's happened."

McGonagall gasped and ran forward to her former student. "Oh my dear!" She said and cupped his face in one of her hands so she could have a better look.

"I was afraid of this." Dumbledore spoke gravely.

"Of what?" The Transfiguration professor asked turning around sharply to see him, but still keeping a motherly and protective grip on the younger boy. "What were you scared of? Why was I not informed of any of this?"

"The spells this house is covered in, the boggarts are enchanted they are actually _becoming_ what we fear most rather then just taking the shape of them. Our young Mr. Lupin saw the full moon in his boggart, it became the full moon. But since it is still not a true moon in the night sky, the change was only slight."

"Slight?" Remus exclaimed and looked at his with sad yellow eyes. "You call this slight!?"

Dumbledore walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder and gave a reassuring grin. "I'll admit it is quite bad, but I believe I can reverse it."

Sirius smiled and turned to his friend who was still with McGonagall. "See Moony? It'll all be better, no worries at all." He ignored the small tidbit that Dumbledore said he believed he could reverse it rather then saying he knew he could.

At that moment they saw a silvery white light running to them and they turned around. A cat was thinning into the air and behind it stood two girls and a boy. One of the girls was quickly pinpointed as Andy, her height was unmistakable and the boy was Peter, his build was very distinctive. The other girl they soon realized to be Dorcas Meadows.

"Wormtail!" Sirius cried out. "Ya made it!" He walked over and ruffled his friends hair.

"Oh damn, Remus." Andy said and walked over too; taking in the half transformation. "Hmmm..." She sighed as she nodded her head while biting the inside of her cheek. "Kinky." She concluded.

Remus smiled unknowingly bearing white fangs to her.

She ignored that and smiled back, giving him a kiss. "Ya look better then ya do the night of the full moon."

Remus snickered slightly and put his arm around her, she leaned on him and turned over to the rest of the group. "So, when is everyone else due to get here?" She asked.

"Any moment I think." Their headmaster responded.

"How are we going to get out, Professor?" Dorcas asked pretending Remus wasn't there, truth be told, like this he frightened her.

"We'll wait for the rest of our companions to get here before we start concerning our self over such details. It may take all of us to figure out a decent plan."

"Albus, what is the meaning of this?" They heard the gruff voice of Mad-Eye Moody coming from behind.

Dumbledore held his hand up to stop his from speaking. "I am sorry, but unfortunately not all of us have that eye of yours. We can not see when boggarts are ready to jump out at us. I'm afraid there is nothing here to find, we must stop."

"Well," Sirius said reaching into his coat pocket. "I found these actually." He enlarged the papers he had taken from the room he found and looked at them. "I don't know if they mean anything, they were just sort of in a pile." He handed them over to Moody.

The man looked at them and grunted a few times. "What are these circles spots?" He asked.

"Huh?" Sirius asked and looked over, all over the papers were circles letters. "I dunno, I didn't see them before."

"We'll have to figure them out later, Alastor." Dumbledore said. "For now, we have some more of the children coming."

In the distance they saw Heather, Sturgis and Laura coming, Sturgis seemed to be hobbling slightly. His one arm was around Heather's shoulders and his other one had a tight grip on his wand. There was bandages all over him and the one of this arms was in a sling, this was the side he was holding his wand in. Along with the white bandages there was bruises covering his skin.

"What happened to you guys?" Andy asked looking them up and down.

"Devil's snare." Heather answered. "A whole room full of it."

"Damn..."

"And you?" She asked noticing Remus. "Looks like we didn't have the most fun."

"Boggarts." Remus said with his head down once again. "They uh, they kinda... became the moon I think. Kinda..."

"I think I got it." Heather said being sympathetic and not needing him to continue. "So where is everyone?"

"My brother has sent me a patronus, apparently he found a portkey and was teleported out of this place. He's back at HQ waiting for us." Dumbledore said.

"Well," Sturgis said looking around the room. "We're missing the brother's, Edgar, Maureen and Benjy."

"And Caradoc," Sirius spoke up. "He seemed to just disappear, I looked for him, but I couldn't find him, honest, I looked." He said worrying that people would think he didn't look because of his dislike for the man.

Dumbledore seemed to understand and smiled at him. "I understand, it's perfectly alright. I'm sure we'll find him. Say, Alastor, could you look through the walls and see who else is in this house? I'm sure if we tried we could get everyone together."

"I am, Albus." Mad-Eye said glaring through the hard wood walls. "Maureen and Benjy are on their way, following your patronus Minerva. There's Edhgar, Albus, you're patronus is heading towards him, he looks confused... a bit scared I'd say... but I don't see the brother's. It seems they aren't even in the house anymore."

"Not in the house?" Lily asked, worried. "Well then did they find a way out or... or did they..."

"Find a portkey." James finished.

"Well," Laura said with slight panic rising in her voice. "I mean, that means they found each other that their together and you know they're both strong wizards, that means they can defeat anything... Right?" She asked looking around desperately at the older wizards and witch.

"I'm sure they're fine, Laura." Sirius said in a calm, comforting tone as he wrapped his arm around her. He only meant to be acting as a friend, but since their encounter at the wedding, which Sirius still didn't remember, it felt slightly uncomfortable. But she didn't have the heart to tell him that, she knew he meant no harm.

"Their coming." Moody said and seconds later the two came running up to the group.

"Oh thank Merlin!" Maureen yelled as she gave them all a big hug when she saw them pausing when she saw Remus but hugged him regardless. "I thought I'd never see any of you ever again!"

Benjy didn't hug he settled with shaking hands. "It was terrifying," he began. "We were stuck in a maze of sorts. How can a house have a maze? And how can a house be this large anyway? This place has more secret passageways then Hogwarts."

"I don't know about that." Sirius said with a smirk, thinking back to his Marauding days.

"Now just Edgar, right?" Andy said looking around the group, "well and the boys but... uh..."

"The Prewett's aren't coming, they're not here." Moody growled at her frustrrated that he had to say this so many times. Remus responded to that 'growl' at his girlfriend when Moody turned around he gave a quick snap and growl to his back.

And giggled and slapped him on the chest lightly and Sirius who happen to be standing right next to them snorted in laughter and ruffled his friends hair. "That's the Moony we all know and love." He said and sneaked a peek in Moody's direction. His back was turned, but with that eye of his he knew he was glaring at them.

A couple minutes later they saw Edgar come through

"That's everybody." Moody sounded out.

"What about Gideon and Fabian?" Maureen asked desperatly not wanting to leave them behind, althought she knew they would have too.

"They seem to be missing." McGonagall said walking over. "I'm sorry dear, we can't find them. They're not here." She renforced. "Along with Caradoc I'm afriad we'll have to leave without them."

"No..." She moaned and put her face in her hands.

"I'm sure they're fine." Benjy said putting his hand around her before looking up at everyone around him. "Now, how do we get out of here? I think we've all noticed by now the blasted spells around this place. We can't apparate."

Dumbledore nodded. "We will find a way out."

Andy let go of Remus and walked around, a few times she knocked her fist on the wall listening. Remus followed her around with a furrowed brow. "Love, what are you doing?" He asked.

"Listenin'." She responded as she moved around and knocked on some more walls. It looked like someone had just given her back luck and she was now knocking on wood.

"Well obviously, but for what?"

As she knocked on one wall she smirked. "Hear that?" By now almost everyone was staring at her.

"What?" Dorcas asked from the back, still staying clear of Remus.

"The sound, listen over here." She moved to another wall and knocked and then back to this one. "Ya hear the difference?"

"No." Heather said with a blank stare.

Remus, being a werewolf and half transformed at the moment, nodded his head. "yeah, I hear it, but what does that have to do with anything."

"Well," she grinned and took her wand out. "With super power wolfy hearing I can hear how hollow these walls are, and on the other side of this wall is a damn big space. I'd bet'cha it's outside."

"Ms. Volk, I don't know if I approve what you're suggesting." Dumbledore said with authority in his voice and yet a mischievous glint in his eye, betraying what he was telling her.

"Blow this walls ass up." She said and pointed her wand at the wall.

"Ms. Volk!" McGonagall cried. "I'm sure there is a more proper solution!"

"Blow it up!" Sirius yelled.

"Andy no!" Lily said putting her hands on her hips.

"Go Andy, go!" Benjy yelled.

The room was split in two sections, half saying to blow it up and the other half saying to leave it be that she would kill them all. Andy of course being Andy, the rash, unpredictable American... I think we all know which option she picked.

In seconds the wall was blown out and the one after that and the one after that. This was not outside it seems, just a large room. Dust, and debris was flying all around them, landing in their hair and shoulders. Many of them had to duck and avoid the splintered wood that was falling hard around them.

Finally at the third dangerous explosion Andy smiled as she saw the moonlight filtering though the gaping hole in the wall. "See! Look there's outside! I told you I'd get all out of here!"

"You never said that!" Maureen yelled as all of them ran to the gap in the wall that seemed to be closing it self up.

"Well I should have!" She screamed.

"It's closing up!" James yelled as he tightly gripped Lily's hand, making sure she didn't fall behind.

"Once more for luck!" Andy laughed with the biggest smile on her face ever and she thrust her wand to the quickly self healing wall. One last gigantic explosion sounded out, maybe a bit bigger then intended because the whole house began to come crashing down to the ground.

"Dammit!" Heather yelled from the back as she helped Sturgis limp to the man made exit. "Now look what you did!

"Shut up!" Andy cried back.

The large group through the open hole just in time as the rest of the house came crashing down the behind them. Once they were at a safe distance they were able to watch the remains of it collapse. It was quite a sight to see, but some of them were angry at the fact she destroyed one of their only leads to Voldemort.

"Hey! I just got us out of there!" Andy said trying to defend her actions.

"And you completely demolished every lead be had on Voldemort, don't you think before you act?" Moody roared at her, obviously very angry, even his magical eye was glaring at her.

"We have those papers." Sirius butted in. "Maybe that was all that's there. And besides I'm happy that that house was destroyed! I mean hell that place was dangerous! We lost three people there tonight, and I wasn't hoping to stay longer and lose more."

"This arguing." Dumbledore said stepping into the fight. "Is not solving a thing, Ms. Volk may have acted rash, but you can not deny that the house held dark magic in it. We all may have been doomed if we stayed in much longer."

Mad-Eye grumbled at him and began walking in a different direction. "Better go then, don't want to stay around this place much longer then we have to."

The group moaned as they followed him back to the sight of the portkey. It was even worse now that they were walking at night, every now and then something would move in the bushes or in the forest and all of them would freak out. Of course, Mad-Eye wouldn't he could see what was behind the trees and know it was only a deer or possum or some other night animal.

People seemed to be gripping one another in pairs, couples were together and even those non couples were clutching one another. Laura was even clinging to Sirius, she hadn't really noticed it was him though, she would have grabbed anyone she could hug tightly.

Finally they reached the portkey, Moody activated it right away to take them back to HQ. No one even said a word, they just grabbed a hold of the thing and waited for it to take them away from this eternally creepy place. A few moments after everyone had took a firm grip on it they all felt a strong pull at their naval and the scenery around them faded away into nothingness.

Seconds later the group landed on the porch of their HQ, some of the more experienced wizards landed on their feet, but some landed smack dab on their butts, it hurt. They slowly got up and walked to the door, Mad-Eye had already limped inside.

"I really should practice that." Sirius said holding his back like an old man as he stood up.

"Come on, let's head inside." James said and the group of young Order members began walking in.

After only a few seconds of entering they saw Gideon and Fabian Prewett sitting on the couch with equal sly smiles on their faces. It seemed that Moody was grilling them, seeing if they were the real brothers or death eaters in disguise. But they all knew it was them, as they passed by giving the boy relived looks, they both winked simultaneously at them all. Now, if only they could reverse what had happened to Remus this wouldn't have turned out all that bad... cause, you know, Caradoc was still missing.

Lisa: This should have been up on tuesday or somthin' but we ran into a longevity error in the chapter and I had to go off and fix it. Sorry. But that was it and stick around for more... please? And review? That'd be nice.


	33. The Reality of War

Lisa: here ya go guys, we're skippin' ahead a bit. I hope no one minds but I spent three chapters on one day and I'm not gonna do it again.

Heather: All unanswered questions will get answered, even though I don't really know if there were any...

Lisa: I don't remember either. Oh well if there were I'm sure I'll answer it eventually. But here is the next installment of this thrilling and exiting story I've got goin' on here.

The Reality of War

"But I don't even know what this… whatever it is, is." Sirius complained as his friends drug him into the building. He went with them, but that didn't mean he was happy about going with them.

"Oh, it's fun Padfoot." James said as he walked up to the counter. "Uh… two lanes for… three games please." He said and handed the man some Muggle money.

He took the money, counted it up and handed the change to James. "Right, go to lanes four and five, they're open." He said in a gruff voice, motioning over to the end of the alley with a pen in his hand. "You got shoes?"

"Yes, Sir, we do." James said with a polite smile. "Thanks."

All eight of them walked down to the end where lanes four and five sat. he sat down at the table and began writing on a scoring sheet. "Now I don't want any cheating." He said as he wrote down their names on the paper. "So I'm gonna take care of all the scoring, in pen." He said holding up the pen in his hand. "It'll be guys verses girls."

"Just as a heads up, ladies." Andy said looking to her female friends. "I suck at bowling, big time."

"I doubt I'm any better." Laura said as she looked at a bright pink ball that sat on the rack, she pointed to it. "I want that one."

"Come on guys, bring your feet over here." He said looking around to make sure no one was watching. "Like hell I'm paying for shoe rental." Using his wand as discreetly as possible he transformed his own shoes into bowling shoes along with everyone else's.

"My shoes are slippery, I want my boots." Sirius complained, normally he wore a pair of heavy duty combat looking boots, he said they matched his motorcycle. But now, his boots had become slick and clean bowling shoes.

"You can't bowl in boots." James said rolling his eyes, apparently he seemed to be the only one here who was at least halfway decent at bowling, this was going to be a long game.

"Okay, are we gonna bowl or just stand around here chit chatting all day?" Lily asked picking up a purple bowling ball from the rack.

"Flower, if you want to go first – " James said but was cut off as Lily's ball went sliding down the lane and knocking down every single pin.

She turned around and winked at them, upon seeing their expressions she narrowed her eyes and grinned. "What? I'm a Muggle born remember? Mum and dad are quite fond of the game."

"Oh sweet!" Andy exclaimed as she pumped her fist in the air and then high fived Heather. "We got a pro on our team!"

"I love you Lil, you know that right?" Heather asking, praising her red headed friend.

Remus sighed and shook his head as he watched the girls rejoice having Lily on their team. Then he stole a glance at Sirius who was studying his ball intently. "This," he began. "Is going to be a long and painful game."

"Why is it so damn heavy?" Sirius cried out as he lifted a ball off the rack and carried it over to his seat. As he sat down he stared at it in wonder and curiosity.

"Padfoot," James said with a furrowed brow as he watched him examine the ball. "You graduated Hogwarts as one of the top students. In fact you _were_ top in potions-"

"Under Snivillus." Sirius growled glancing up for a moment at James and then back down at the ball.

"You're telling me you can't figure out a bowling ball?"

"Nope."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

It was about an hour later, the girls were whooping them. This was mainly because Lily had rarely not gotten a strike or picked up the spares. Andy was true to her word, she was quite bad at the game, at one point she just sat down and pushed it down the lane, she actually knocked down five pins doing so. Laura was along the same lines, she seemed more interested in no one else using her pink ball then anything. Heather was better then the two, but was no where near up to Lily's standards.

The boys… well, lets just say James was the only one doing anywhere near decent. Sirius was possibly the worst bowler on the face of the earth, he got more gutter balls then all of them combined. Remus wasn't exactly horrible, but he wasn't exactly ready for the pro's neither, same went for Peter. He was surprisingly good, or, he did better then they all thought he would.

They were nearing the end of their game when Lily walked over and sat next to James who held his head low in his hands. "Are we being a sore loser?" She asked playfully with a smile.

"If I had known… that you were this good, I would have versed couples." He replied looking up at her.

"Well we're getting married in two weeks. I thought it was about time you saw what I was really capable of."

"No, you just wanted a break from wedding planning."

She laughed slightly. "Maybe I did, or maybe I didn't." Giggling she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "My turn."

Lily walked up to the front and picked up her purple ball. From the sidelines James watched her knock down eight of the pins. It would be easy for her to pick up the spares on this one.

James felt someone else plop down next to him and looked over to see Remus, his turn had just ended and now Sirius was up. "Having fun?" Remus asked with a smirk on his face, obviously sensing James's annoyance with how well the girls were doing, or rather how well the girl was doing.

"Shove off." James said and smacked Remus on the arm.

"Oh come on," He said and put his arm over the seat. "You're having fun, you know it."

"We're verseing couples next time." James repeated.

"Well, I dunno how much Heather would like that, or Peter, or Laura or Sirius…" Remus started ranted on. "But I'm sure me and Andy could play a game with you and Lils sometime."

"What the hell!"

Remus jumped in his seat with wide eyes. "That wasn't exactly the response I was expecting." He said staring at his friend in confusion.

"No, Moody, he sent me a message." He said and reached down to his leg, around the area of his pocket. "You know he said if we're in a Muggle area and he can't get a hold of us through patronus, he'd shock us? I thought he was kidding."

"He actually shocked you? Bloody hell!" Remus said and clasped his hand over his pocket. "He shocked me!"

There was a small screech from up at the lanes. They two boys looked up to see Laura clutching her leg, in the same spot James had received his shock. "I just got shocked!" She whined.

Over the next thirty seconds or so the two boys watched as the rest of their friends receive a shock in the leg. By now they had gathered a bit of attention from the people surrounding them. "Just a little… static electricity is all…" Lily smiled sheepishly to the crowd around them. "Nothing more to see." She finished.

The eight of them walked over to the table and sat there for a moment in silence before Andy broke it. "Now what the hell was that?" She asked.

"Don't you remember what Moody said?" Remus asked her in a low voice.

"No." She answered quickly as if this answer were obvious. "If I did then I wouldn't be asking this question, now would I?"

"He said if he had to get on contact with us but couldn't send a patronus then he would give us a small shock in the leg. Now we have to report to HQ." he explained.

"Small shock?" Sirius asked disbelievingly. "That was not small, mate."

"Well none the less." James began. "It means we have to report to HQ now."

"Can't we just finish the game?" Heather pleaded leaning over on the table slightly.

Remus shook his head. "No, we have to report to HQ."

"You lot only want to finish because you're winning." Peter grunted at them with a sour face.

"Maybe." Heather smiled and upon getting no further response she stood up and walked over to the lane to finish off the game.

The boys sighed heavily but continued to play the game. It was a very good thing they only had a few minutes left. They just hoped that the entire wizarding world wasn't at war while they were playing this game and when they walked out everyone would be dead.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

About fifteen minutes later the eight of them walked up the stairs of the order HQ. James knocked on the door and in seconds the door opened to reveal Moody, he must have looked through the door and known it was them. "What are all your patronus's." He asked, it was a new question every time they showed up. They were wondering when he would run out.

"Big dog." Sirius said automatically, not bothering to ever figure out the breed of his patronus.

"Cat." Laura said meekly from the back.

"German Sheppard." Heather said tiredly.

"Wolf." Remus said.

"Same here, wolf." Andy said, it would be fairly obvious what theirs would be.

"Rat." Peter answered.

"Doe." Lily said from where she stood next to James.

"A stag." James answered.

Moody nodded his head and opened the door fully for them. "Very well, come on, you're late. I messaged you seventeen minutes ago. When I call you, you come immediately regardless what you're doing." He growled as he walked down the long hallway.

"We were in a Muggle area; we couldn't just drop what we were doing." Heather said rolling her eyes.

"Besides, those last two minutes were taken up for your little interrogation." Sirius murmured under his breath, but he had the suspicion Moody heard him and was glaring at him with his magical eye.

When they walked in the main room they saw many of their fellow Order members with their heads down on the table. They were all comforting one another and there were few who weren't crying at the table.

"Oh…" McGonagall said as she spotted them enter, she gave all of them a quick hug, as if to comfort them to prepare them for what she was about to say. "I'm so sorry, but Edgar… he… Voldemort…" She began crying and dabbed at her eyes with the handkerchief.

"What happened?" Laura asked fearing the worst.

Their former teacher composed herself for a moment and took a deep breath. "Voldemort got to him… he killed his whole family." She began explaining through the tears. "The whole family, they're all dead."

"Oh my God." Laura said and put her hand over her mouth as she fought back tears. "All of them? Not a single one's left?" It was common knowledge that the Bones family was fairly large; it would take time and effort to kill them all.

"All of them." McGonagall confirmed. "This was a planned attack, they took time and effort to do this."

"'E was a great man… a great wizard…" Hagrid said from the far corner, one of the older witches seemed to be comforting him. He was dabbing his eyes with a large hankie. "One o' the best wizards of our toime 'e was… One o' the best."

"Oh Merlin… no…" Sirius mumbled as he wandered off of the group and rubbed his face with his hands. "We're dropping like flies… like bloody common house flies…"

"No," James said and walked over to his friend. "No, we're not."

Sirius whirled around to his friend. "Oh yes we are! Admit it! First Caradoc went missing and I think it's safe to say he is dead, hell we had a funeral for him. Next we lose that nice girl, Cindy was her name? She came to one meeting before being killed on the street along with three Muggles. Now we lose Edgar, one of the bravest among us!"

Maureen stood up and walked over to Sirius. She stood in front of him for a moment, almost a head and a half shorter then he brought her hand back and slapped him. "Shut up, Sirius!" She cried. "Just shut up! Things may seem down right now but we will win this war, we are not all going to die!"

"How do you know?" He asked lowering his voice his and his eyes at the woman who stood in front of him. "Any one of us could be next. Tomorrow I could be dead… tomorrow, you, or maybe Benjy or maybe Frank or Alice… Any one of us could die in this war."

"Well that's war." James said. "I know you and Edgar were friends, but we were all friends with him. But you can't get made at it all just because you lost a friend."

"The hell I can't." Sirius said glaring James in the eye. "Voldemort killed my friend, and I want revenge. I want revenge on that bastard."

"We could have stopped it." Benjy said suddenly from the table. "The papers… the papers Sirius found in the house. Dates were circled. If you look at one of the newspapers the dates point to last night, the exact day and time. Sirius, whoever left behind those newspapers knew the time and dates of murders. They left them behind for someone to find."

"It shows more too." Dorcas said quietly as she reached over and picked one up. "More dates and times. You… you have to put it all together, but if you find it… it shows the dates and well times… obviously." She stuttered.

"Look, the point is." Benjy said with a faint smile appearing on his face. "If we figure the rest out we can prevent more murders."

"I wonder who it was." Andy said sitting down at the table slowly. "Ain't many people it could be… now are there…?"

Regulus, Sirius knew it had to be him. Who else would know the time and date of future death eater attacks? He was a death eater, of course he would know what they were planning, but then he left. He left still knowing what would come to pass. He left this behind for them, but why couldn't he just come out and say it? It must have been a death eater thing, maybe he physically wasn't able to tell anyone about the attacks.

"Do we know when the next attack is?" Laura asked looking up at Benjy? "Or, who it might be?"

Benjy shook his head sadly and closed his eyes. "No, but I'm sure if I slave over this stuff enough I can figure it out." He said and picked up the newspapers and stared at them.

"I'll help." Sirius said and sat down at the table. "I wanna meet the man who killed him, I wanna meet him and kill him myself…"

"Now, now, Sirius." Laura said and walked over to him, putting her hands on his shoulders. Daring to make physical contact since the wedding of Alice and Frank, ever since she and him… well… you know, she had been avoiding as much contact with him as possible. "You can't go plotting revenge so quickly. You'll end up getting yourself killed."

"She's right." Andy said leaning up against the door frame. "Ya gotta plan revenge."

Laura shook her head and began massaging his shoulders subconsciously. "Not exactly what I had in mind, but I guess Andy's right, you have to think these things through."

"And have maps." Heather added helpfully.

"Blue prints." Andy put in.

"Walkie talkies."

"Wires. Wires on everyone!"

"Cameras!"

"Notes!"

"Enough." Lily said calmly making everyone instantly quiet down. "Now, I know we're all upset here, I know we all want revenge, but we can't. We can't just waltz into battle, wands raised and almightily. We need a plan, we need a strategy."

"Lily's right." Remus said stepping up. "We can't just run in, we need a plan." He said repeating what she has said second before.

"I'm all up for a planed revenge," Peter said fiddling with the collar of his shirt nervously; apparently the death of Edgar had stirred him up a bit as well. "But, how? We don't even know where he's attacking next."

"And that." Maureen said taking some of the newspapers away from Benjy and examining them. "Is why we are going to study hard and figure this out as soon as possible. Before another member of the Order dies."

"You know," James said as he sat down at the table. "Three of us have died in just a few months, I'm starting to think maybe the Order is getting targeted. Maybe one of us is next."

"We have to figure this out." Sirius said looking at the papers. "I don't want to lose anyone else."

Lily sat down as well along with the rest of the young Order members. "And we won't die. We'll always be here helping you. No matter what happens, Sirius."

"She's right, Pads, even when you finally end up in Azkaban for life." Remus said with a crooked smile on his face.

"I will not." The dog animagus said as he reached over and gave his werewolf friend a smack on the arm. "James'll go before me, I'd never get caught."

"You get caught plenty." James murmured. "I can't go to Azkaban, I'm too pretty."

"Heh," Sirius laughed as he looked at the circled dates and numbers on the newspaper. "You keep thinking that, Prongsie."

There was a long extended silence as the large group of young adults ranging from the age eighteen to twenty five stared at the newspapers. And once again, Andy pulled off her infamous way of asking a question in dead silence. "So, what am I doin' again?" She asked making everyone look up at her.

Lisa: Verrrrrrry lazzzzzyyyyyy not gonna talk……


	34. Strippers and Beer

Lisa: Here's the next chapter my little rabid readers. I started my new classes today and things look like it's gonna be a good semester. My hardest class is English. Not that I don't like English I'm actually very good at it, but the poetry, urg! I just finished Creative Writing and now this!?

Heather: I don't see you at all during the day now!

Lisa: I know! It's awful! I'm already missing my Man's Inhumanity to Mankind class.

Heather: Sucks.

Lisa: It does.

Strippers and Beer

Sirius danced around the room with a wide grin on his face as he bought the tap to the unusually large keg behind the couch. Eight men sat in the living room of Sirius's flat, it was James's bachelor party and he was going to do this right. He had some loud death metal music blasting from the Muggle stereo in the corner and James was setting up a beer pong table in the corner.

When he finished attaching the tap on the keg he threw his hands up in the air. "Here we have it my good men! The tap is now in full working mode. Everyone gather round and enjoy." Already having a beer in his hand he decided to not take up on his own advice.

They had all showed up for the long awaited party, it was only a week after the funeral of Edgar Bones, but this was just the thing they all needed to brighten their spirits once again. Before they started the party and before they were all too drunk to see Sirius, who was of course hosting the part, made sure to have a toast for Edgar right after he gave one to James.

"Sirius's where's you deck of cards?" Benjy asked walking over with Chris, Peter and Frank over his shoulders, all three of them holding an open and half empty beer bottle in their hands.

"Uh..." The animagus replied rubbing the back of his neck. "Maybe in my room… but there's no need to find any other form of entertainment at the moment."

"Why's that?" Chris asked taking a swig of his beer.

Sirius gave them all his most famous grin that made all the girls melt, lucky for him these people standing around then were not females. "Because I have a special surprise planned."

"And what surprise would this be?" Frank asked leaning in while raising his eyebrows.

He looked over to the table to see James playing beer pong with Remus, who was losing. He looked back to Chris and Frank standing ahead of him and raised his eyebrows suggestively. "You'll see." With that he walked away to the beer prong table to watch two of his best friends get drunk off their asses.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Frank mumbled to Chris, thinking he knew what the surprise was.

"I think I am." Chris mumbled back.

"I think we all are." Peter grinned.

"I'm suddenly so happy." Benjy smiled dumbly and looked over to the three boys.

"How drunk are you getting our resident designated driver?" Sirius asked James as he walked over to the table.

James smirked and looking up at Sirius for a moment before he bounced the small ping pong ball into the cup. "I think he'll have to stay over, I don't want him flooing anywhere."

"'M fine fer flooing." Remus slurred slightly and then pausing to think about that sentence. "Okay well… maybe not so much."

Sirius shook his head. "Oh Moony, Moony, Moony… shall I introduce you to the jello shots?" He asked hopefully just wanting to see how drunk he could get his friend.

"Piss off." Remus said aiming and bouncing the ball across the table.

"Angry drunk." Sirius resorted as James took a drink from the cup.

James held out his cup to Sirius. "Could you refill please?" he asked as he plopped another ball into Remus's cup, making him have to drink more. Apparently he didn't realize how good James was at this game when he accepted the challenge.

Sirius walked over to the keg and quickly refilled the cup along with a couple more and bought them back to James. "Tell you what, Rem, go over there get something to eat, balance out some of that alcohol. I'll take over for you until then." He said leading Remus away from one end of the table and taking his place across from James.

"Uh-huh." Remus said rubbing his eyes and walking over to the small food station they had set up earlier.

James glared for a moment with an amused look. "You know I was winning that game and I planned on winning it officially and completely."

Sirius waved it off dismissively and rolled his eyes. "Prongs, mate, he's wasted beyond belief when he comes back he won't be any better, I wouldn't doubt if tomorrow he woke up without a clue on what happened here tonight. You can just say you won and he'll believe you, the boy can't hold his alcohol very well."

"Especially playing against me." James smiled up as he bounced the ball once again.

"How many drinks did you let him have?"

"Too many, but that's the game."

"Suppose so."

They gave a sideways glance to Remus who was leaning over the table with his head down. He looked like he was ready to puke, it would probably do him good anyway. But after a moment he lifted his head up and rubbed his eyes with his palms and took a deep breath.

"Hey! Rem, eat!" Sirius ordered once more when he saw his friend was just gathering his head together.

Remus looked up and gave him a thumbs up before moving over and grabbing something to eat. "Where would he be without me?" Sirius asked as he took a drink of beer.

"Probably being the first werewolf ever to become a successful Healer at St. Mungo's. No scratch that, he'd be head of the whole healer department at the age of eighteen." James replied.

Sirius nodded. "Probably."

There was a knock at the door and Sirius looked up with a smile, James on the other hand was confused. "Who's that? Everyone's here right?"

Sirius walked over and turned down the music for a moment getting everyone's attention. "Well James my good mate, all the _men_ are here. But I think this party needs a little bit extra."

"You didn't…" James trailed off as he walked forward a couple steps.

"Oh I did." Sirius grinned and flung open the door to expose a young woman around there own age dressed in a Hogwarts robe, Gryffindor style, despite the fact she was a Slytherin.

"Hi, Sirius." She said as she leaned up to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Oh good Lord." Remus mumbled from the corner placing a hand over his mouth and turning away for a moment, he may have been wasted, but this he'd remember.

"I'll tell you it was murder trying to cover this up walking through a Muggle building, why don't you live in a Wizarding one?" She asked.

"Lower profile, love, and its cheaper."

"You know her?" James asked raising his eyebrows.

"Oh Jim… You remember Sally, year ahead of us." Sirius explained as he placed his hand on the small of her back and lead her into the room. "I called and when she heard it was for James Potter she jumped at the opportunity."

"Sally Whitesfeild?" James asked with wide eyes. "Well you, uh, you… you look good."

She grinned. "James stop, I'm a stripper it's not a secret, we all knew it was coming. So who's the lucky lady?"

"Lily Evans." He answered.

"I knew something was going on between you two." She smiled and brushed her thick, blonde, curly hair behind her. "But let's get this show on the road, shall we?" She asked taking out a wand and magically whipping all the chairs around in a circle, she pushed James down on the seat in front of her. The rest of the boys quickly occupied the rest of the chairs, Remus was the last to sit down.

In a flash the young woman ripped off her robe to reveal a very slutty Hogwarts uniform underneath along with thigh high fishnets with a garter belt and stiletto heels, music began playing in the corner by the record player.

"Just don't tell Lily." James muttered with a small smile on his face as his former classmate began doing a strip tease in front of him.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

James was not the only one having a party that night, Lily was having her own party hosted by none other then Andy. Like the boys Andy have lugged in, or levitated rather, a large key, along with many bottles of wine. Many of the girls were getting a bit on the drunk side, especially Andy who had convinced Laura to let lose for one night.

At the moment the two friends were now singing some of the worst David Bowie karaoke in the world. It was off key, loud, it's a good thing Laura too the time to put a sound barrier around the room earlier, and obnoxious.

"HE'S OUTRAGEOUS, HE SCREAMS AND HE BAWLS! JEAN GENIE LET YOURSELF GO!" The two girls screamed throughout the room, Heather sat on the couch with a beer in her had shaking her head slowly.

They continued to sing for another thirty seconds or so before they were stopped by Maureen walking in and holding up her hands. "I think," she began with a glass of red wine in her hand. "We've all had enough of that and we just play some real David Bowie."

"He's so hot." Laura said stumbling over her own feet as she walked over to the couch. "I love his eyes."

"They're mesmerizing." Andy smiled.

"Dreamy." Maureen agreed as she placed a record on the player.

Andy giggled. "He is! Him and Tim Curry."

"I can agree with you all there." Alice said as she used her wand and magically poured herself some more wine that sat across the room from her.

Heather laughed and shook her head some more. She seemed to be the only real sober one there, either that or she was a boring drunk which they knew she wasn't.

"C'mon Heather!" Andy cried as she fell back onto the couch. "Have another drink."

"You boozed Laura up in a matter of seconds, someone has to make sure you don't teepee the bloody apartment." Heather answered as they were at her place, since Andy was now living with Remus she didn't see it fit to destroy her own home, so she was going to destroy Heathers.

Andy pouted but took a drink from her own cup. "I'm bored."

"Already?" Dorcas asked, she had broken out of her shell a bit since she joined. Now she was a great deal more comfortable, around the girl population of the Order mostly. "You've just finished your grand karaoke number; don't you want to catch your breath?"

Heather snorted at the question and took a sip of beer from her cup. "That's funny, good one." She responded with a mock laugh.

Andy stood up and walked over to Lily who was chatting it up with a few girls who waitressed at the Muggle restaurant with her and Andy. It may have been a Muggle bar, but the one woman they worked with was a squib and the other trying to pay her way through school to become a healer.

"How's our lady of the hour doin'." Andy asked putting her arm around her friend.

Lily laughed and stumbled slightly nearly dropping her wine glass. "I'm just lovely Andy." She replied. "The party's fabulous."

Andy giggled and looked down for a moment. "If you think this is great you're gonna just love what comes next." She drawled out with a goofy grin.

The red head looked confused and furrowed her brow as she turned away from their other two friends to fully face Andy. "What are you talking about? Come next, what comes next? What do you mean?" She asked quickly.

"You'll see." She said before walking over to the counter and setting her drink down. "I'm think I'm gonna go throw up, be back in a minute." She said loudly before walking over to the bathroom.

Heather's eyes widened and got up to chase after her. "Andy you bitch! I swear it if you barf all over my rug I'm going to kill you!"

Lily laughed as she watched this and placed her glass down on the end table. "Wonder what she meant." She wondered out loud.

"Lily, you naïve little thing you." Maureen said as she walked over, being the oldest girl there, although still rather young, she took it upon herself to explain things. "Think about it, what would Andy, and I repeat myself, _Andy_ get you for your bachelorette party?"

"Edible panties?" Lily asked sarcastically.

She sighed and slapping Lily lightly on the shoulder. "Be serious."

Lily thought for a moment and then it dawned upon her and her eyes widened in shock. "Oh she wouldn't. She would? No, she wouldn't? Yes, she would, no, yes, no she wouldn't… but yes she would."

"She would." Laura said as she joined the conversation. "I've known Andy since we were seven, trust me, she would."

"I thought she moved here at six." Lily said confused.

Laura scoffed. "Well I didn't meet her off the bloody plane; we weren't really friend until seven."

There was a knock at the door, Lily began walking over to answer it but Andy came shooting out of the bathroom with Heather following her at a much slower pace. "I got it! I got it! I got it! I got it!" Andy repeated over and over as she reached the door. She gained her balance for a moment before opening the door.

On the other side of the door stood a tall man with brown hair and blue eyes, he gave them a killer smile. "Hello loves."

Andy seemed to almost melt at the door. "Hello John."

"Getting here was murder, you know you really suck at directions." He said as she let him in the apartment.

Lily gaped at their friendly conversation. "Andy, you _know _him? Personally I mean?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "Met him a while ago at a Rocky Horror show. He's even hot looking as a transvestite." She said excitedly to the rest of the girls.

"I didn't need to know any of that." Heather murmured as she sat back down on the couch.

"Did you get your one friend what's his name, into Rocky Horror yet?" John asked.

Andy grinned and nodded her head, when everybody gave curious looks she decided to explain. "Sirius used to think Rocky Horror was for freaks, now you can't stop him from doing the Time Warp if it gets started."

There was obnoxious laughter from Heather once again.

Andy pulled him away from Heather and over to Lily who just stared. "This, by the way, is Lily she's the lucky lady getting married."

"Hi," John said holding out his hand for her to shake, she complied. "I'll be your stripper for this evening."

"That's just funny." Heather said laughing.

"By the way how's Cheryl doin'? Did ya tie the knot with her yet?" Andy asked and then shook her head before he could answer. "Oh never mind, never mind, we'll talk later, go strip as the hot suspended Quidditch player." She said running her hand along his chest. "I have a boyfriend, I have a boyfriend…" She said to herself as she forced herself away from him.

Maureen walked over and grabbed his one arm flirtatiously. "So John, tell me, why'd you get suspended?"

In a flash a wand was whipped out from the robe and the chairs from all over the room swung around for all the girls to sit in. "I've been bad." He said as he stood in front of Lily and took off his Quidditch robe.

All at once music began playing on the record player and the women started screaming out of glee.

Lisa: Hehehehehe, strippers. I'm getting my friend a stripper for her eighteenth, hehe.

Laura: A Greek one!

Lisa: Yes, you're getting a Greek one. I just gotta say, David Bowie is awesome, I was originally gonna use Bon Jovi, but then I realized the time period would be wrong, so we all thought for a good two hours and I came up with David Bowie. Then I had to watch the movie Labyrinth, way before my time I know... I was negative four when that movie came out…

Laura: I love that movie, I love his hair.

Lisa: Me too… very hot in that movie.

Laura: But he's old now…

Lisa: Yeah… as is Tim Curry…


	35. The Big Day

Lisa: I am so sorry but I started working on my original story and this really got away from me but I'm back now so fear not.

Heather: She'll ignore it again for another month…

Lisa: Yeah, I usually do and then I say "oh shit, gotta write" and then go at for a few days non-stop… it's my process.

Heather: And a good one it is.

The Big Day

Lily, Maureen, Heather and Laura sat in the small back room of the church, today was the big day, the day of Lily and James's wedding. Laura was doing all she could do with her wand to make Lily's hair perfect, but the end of the day only the strongest spells would be able to take it down. However there did seem to be a problem, not with Lily or James they both looked fabulous, but the problem of where the best man and one of the bride's maids were.

"I'm sure they're fine." Maureen said as she walked up and began sending a lint roller down Lily's white dress. "Andy probably just came across Sirius in the hall and he had his tie wrong or they're just talking. I'm sure they're fine."

"But she's been gone for a half hour, and so has Sirius, you heard Remus when he came in here asking." Lily argued. "I tell you they found something or got distracted by something and it has to be bad because what else could be more important today then my wedding."

Heather sighed and played with her green dress, she wasn't too fond of the whole dress thing. "Look, those two have the attention span of mole rats… they probably found a lamp and got distracted by the pretty colors."

Lily moaned and bounced up and down for a couple minutes. "But the weddings in less then a half hour, where are they?"

"Stop moving," Laura scolded. "I'll mess up and end up lighting your hair on fire."

"Laura its fine." She protested.

"This is your wedding day; your hair has to be perfect."

"Speaking of hair," Maureen said turning around from putting the roller away. "Did we do Andy's hair yet?"

Lily paled. "No… oh my God we didn't do her hair yet!"

Heather rolled her eyes and looked up from her magazine. "Oh come on! You cast one spell and it goes up, you are witches remember." She looked back down.

There was a knock at the door and all four girls turned to see who it was, when they realized they did not have the power to see though wood Lily answered. "Who is it?" She called.

"Uh, it's Remus, Pete, Benjy and James." Remus answered. "James thinks he found Sirius and he has reason to believe Andy might be there as well."

The four girls looked to one another and Maureen threw a white robe at Lily so she could face James and not completely jinx the wedding. Heather shot up and walked to the door, wanting to see this. They stood their until Lily was ready and they all opened the door and stepped out. James immediately covered his eyes, not wanting to see Lily before the wedding.

"Lil!" He exclaimed. "I can't see you in the dress."

"You're not seeing me in a dress you're seeing me in a robe, now come on." She said and looked around, it came to her attention she had yet to know where they were headed. "Where do you think they are?" She asking looking over to James.

"Well I used the two way mirror and apparently Sirius set it down on a table, I told him to take it with him just in case. It looked like the back rec. room." He said and pointed down the hall in the direction of the rec. room.

Lily stomped down the hallway followed by her loyal bride's maids and James followed, a bit more casually with his groomsmen. After a couple turned they arrived at the door of the rec. room, their got their fairly quickly, Lily was practically running, time was short before the ceremony began. They could hear noises inside the room and it looked as though her green eyes turned almost as red as her hair and she flung open the door.

Before them sat Sirius and Andy on the couch watching TV and looking excited to be watching it. Andy did not have her hair done it still was flat against her back, not only that but her legs were up on the couch with her and she wore no heels, she was wearing her boots. Sirius didn't look much better, his tie was loose around his neck and his long hair was aroused and his robes had gathered quite a bit of lint and wrinkles from his position next to Andy.

The eight of them stormed into the room and stared with open mouths. "What are you doing?" Lily asked shocked and dumbfounded.

"Watching Star Wars." Andy replied with a grin and pointed to the screen. "See look, Luke, Han and Chewie just saved Leia from the prison."

"Don't forget R2-D2 and 3C-P0." Sirius reminded as he glanced at her.

"My apologies to the droids." She said waving her hand absently, after a pause she added. "You know they're making another one."

"They are not." Sirius scoffed. "Really?" He asked after a beat.

"Yeah, two more it's gonna be a trilogy." She confirmed.

"Well good, too many unanswered questions."

"What's wrong with you two!?" Lily exclaimed. "It's the day or my – of our wedding, me and James! How can you waste precious time watching Star Trek?"

"Wars." James corrected quietly.

Lily ignored him. "How did you get in here anyway?" She asked sitting herself down on a chair near the door.

"Well… we were bored, met up and wandered and we found this room." Sirius explained and pointed down to an open cabinet which had video tapes displayed out on the floor. "Then we found tapes… one was Star Wars."

"Obviously." James drawled.

"We still have…" Andy looked up at the clock on the wall. "Fifteen minutes, c'mon… plenty of time."

"That is not plenty of time!" Lily cried.

Andy rolled her eyes. "It takes three seconds to get my hair up, two to accio my shoes, and my make up is done and I have the dress on, which is ruining my image by the way and I wanna see them get stuck in the garbage disposal."

"Get back in the room so we can make you beautiful for my wedding, and smile because you're going to enjoy it." Lily ordered and pointed to the door.

Andy moaned and got up casting Sirius a sideways glance.

"Don't worry, love," Sirius said as she walked by him. "I'll watch it for you and then recite it back…"

She waved his hand absently at him and walked by with sagging shoulders past a pissed off Lily, an amused Heather, a frustrated Laura and another amused Maureen. The boys were all watching the movie. They were trying their hardest not to watch it, but they were having some serious trouble with it.

"You've seen the movie two dozen times…" Remus said to her as she walked out, tearing himself away from the movie.

Andy nodded her head sheepishly. "Yeah, but it's a really good movie." She said as he led her out with his arm around her shoulders. "Besides, Harrison Ford is hot."

"Hotter then me?"

"We'll see."

Sirius remained in the room and stared at the TV screen in a trance like state. James, Peter and Benjy stared at him with crossed arms until he finally looked up at them. "Ya know," He began. "There's plenty of room for you guys to sit down."

"Padfoot, it's my wedding day, get off your lazy ass and be my best man now come on." James said flicking his wrist toward the door 'discreetly'.

Sirius smiled and shut off the movie. "Yeah, I know, I can't believe you guys are finally getting married. Seems like it's taken you forever to get this far."

"I know… I think I might have cold feet." James admitted biting his bottom lip.

"That's natural." Peter said as they all walked out of the rec. room and down the hall to James's dressing room. "Besides I'm sure Lily is feeling the same way."

Back in the female dressing room Andy sat in a chair while three girls hovered over her hair, Heather was watching with a smirk on her face at her friend's discomfort. Just to anger the women further Andy grinned at Heather and began humming the Star Wars theme. She regretted it almost instantly because she felt a hard tug on her hair.

"Ya know, my hairs pretty obedient," Andy began. "I don't see why we have to spend so much time with this."

"It's only fair." Heather said grinning smugly at her. "You're the one who decided it would be a good idea to watch TV during the time you should be sitting with me reading magazines."

"What were you thinking?" Laura asked, even though she was slightly amused by the situation now.

She spread her arms out and Maureen gave her a small smack with the wand for moving too much. "Since when do I think? Haven't you guys known me long enough to have learned that?" She asked loudly.

"Still," Lily began now much more cooled off. "It's not appropriate in the least."

"Okay, Lils I'm sorry I was watching Star Wars on your wedding day, now can we finish with this hair? I think it's quite finished." She said forcing her head away from the girls and checking it in the mirror across from the room. "I'd take my glasses off… but I'd be blind." She said turning back to Lily.

"Oh that's fine." Lily said walking over and smoothing her dress out for her. "Your glasses make you look so studious and they compliment your eyes and you angular face…"

"Okay, okay, okay, I get it, I got it, I'm good." She said and walked toward the door. "I'm gonna go out and check on things, we're due to start in five." She said and disappeared through the door with Heather at her heels.

The two girls walked down the hall, both of them tripping every now and then on the high heels. Which were very high, Heather was now pushing the record breaking height of five foot six inches with the five inch heels on. Andy on the other hand was pushing six foot one with the large high heeled shoes on, she was towering.

As they walked down the hall they spotted Sirius and Remus walking to the main room as well. "Hey!" Andy shouted out to get their attention.

They greeted them and managed to close the gap between them for about ten feet before the boys gaped at them. "I'm dating the tallest woman in the world." Remus said seeing that now Andy was almost eye level with him.

Sirius stared at Heather for a few minutes before speaking. "You're still short."

"Thanks." She replied dully. "Do we have everything in check?"

"Uh huh," Remus said pulling himself away from Andy and looking around. "Sirius has the rings… you have the rings right?" He asked and looked over at Sirius who nodded. "Okay, rings, bouquets, you all have them right?" He asked and they nodded. "Okay, James and Lily have their vows? They must, yeah I think we have everything."

"Wait that's all we need?" Sirius asked. "Well then why the hell did we spend months planning this thing!?"

"Well we needed music, invites, caterer, dresses, robes, rings –" Andy began rattling off as she lit the candles that lead the way into the main room.

"Andy I didn't ask for that… and what the hell are you doing!?" He cried out and pointed to the candles she was lighting. Apparently as she turned around to answer the question she left the flame on the tip of her wand lit… and it lit the large bouquet of flowers that sat on the table.

She turned around to come face to face with the flames and cried out. "HOLY SHIT!" She screamed as the flames got bigger.

"Andy you lit the church on fire!" Heather yelled half laughing, but also half mortified.

"I didn't mean to!"

"Put it out!" Sirius cried.

"I'm trying!"

"Use your wand!"

Andy stared at her wand and sighed. "Duh…" She said to herself and easily shot a spray of water at the smoldering flowers. When the fire had gone away there was nothing but blackened lily flowers. "Damn…" She drawled and stared at the smoke.

They heard quickly steps and looked to their left to see Laura running over. "I heard yelling," she started as she spotted them. "What's… wrong…" She gaped at the burnt wall and flowers. "What did you do?" She asked in complete shock.

"Andy lit them on fire." Sirius answered with a small smile. "Pretty cool."

"Not my fault." She said innocently turning around.

"It was." Heather confirmed to Laura.

"Laura," Remus said finally speaking, figuring it was best to stay out of the situation until now. "Do you think perhaps you could do some of your magic with them?"

She nodded her head and walked over. "You guys are lucky I stayed after with Madam Pomfery to learn this sort of thing."

"I stayed after with her almost every day." Heather said as she watched Laura re-grow the beautiful flowers. "How come she never taught me anything like that?"

"Maybe she thought you wouldn't benefit too much from being able to grow flowers." Laura suggested with a raised brow. "And frankly, I can't see you growing flowers on the side any time soon."

"Point taken." Heather said as James walked down the hall with Benjy and Peter at his side.

"Hey guys." He said and rubbed his hands on his robes. "Are we ready to go?" He asked.

"Yeah I'll go get Maureen." Laura said and began walking back to the brides dressing room to get her friend.

"This is it." James said and looked at the wall, it still had a burnt look. "What happened?"

Andy stepped in the way and shooed him. "Ignore that, get in there before Lily comes and you see her, go, go, go, go, go!" She cried and pushed him into the main room.

A few seconds later Lily, Laura and Maureen walked into the hallway, they all gave small nods and Heather stuck her head out into the main room and gave the thumbs up. The music began and Lily's father came out ready to give her away.

"How you feeling, baby?" He asked looking down at her with a smile on his face, already knowing the answer.

"Oh daddy…" Lily said wringing her hands together nervously. "I don't know if I can do this." She said and looked at all her friends and then back up at her father.

It looked as though he would have fielded this question, but he was quickly but off by Andy who was staring at her.

"You bitched to us for months about everything being perfect; you put my hair up in an impossible to get out knot on my head, you will go through with this wedding and you will do it without saying a word…except for vows… and I do and all that crap. Now if you'll excuse me," she said as she picked up her bouquet and grabbed Remus's arm. "We all have to go in and look pretty!" She hissed.

Andy harshly motioned for Laura and Sirius to walk in, both of them being the maid of honor and best man. Next walked in Andy and Remus, then Maureen and Benjy and then Heather and Peter.

They all took their proper positions up in the front until the wedding march played and Lily entered her father at her side. James marveled at her sight, she was gorgeous, her red hair fell around her shoulders in highly styled curls and her make up accented her features perfectly. The dress was long and strapless with small diamonds; it left a train of about four feet behind it. The sunlight shone through the windows of the church and it seemed to make her flawless skin shine.

When she reached the alter she smiled at James with ruby red lips. "Hi." She said quietly.

"Hi." James responded mirroring with his own smile.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union…"

That's about as far as he got before everyone stopped paying attention. James and Lily just seemed mesmerized by one another; they couldn't hear anything that was going on around them. They held hands, with the bouquet between them, of course, and they stared into the eyes of the other.

But James and Lily were not the only ones in the room who were in love. Just a few feet away Andy and Remus were having a similar feeling. She wasn't paying much attention to him, she was watching the ceremony, but he was paying attention to her. Her gray eyes were wide behind her oval frames, and pale skin glimmering with the soft makeup she was forced to wear for the occasion verses her normal heavy and dark makeup.

She stood out profoundly against the rest of the girls around her, of course she always did, but she was the only girl in the room who was surpassing into the six foot region. He couldn't believe how beautiful she looked in the green dress; it was long and formed around her hour glass figure well. The way she shifted slightly as she stood and fingered the ribbon on her flowers. All the little quirky habits she had, without them in his opinion she'd be quite dull.

She must have noticed him staring and she looked over to him with a raised eyebrow. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders ever so slightly. She smiled and laughed faintly before looking back at James and Lily, only giving Remus small glances every now and then.

But there was some more in the room, they may not have been as obvious as James and Lily or Remus and Andy but they were there. Chris was sitting out on the groom's side of the room staring at Heather. In his opinion she didn't dress herself up enough, just a little makeup on the eyes or on her cheekbones went a long way. But he could tell she was uncomfortable, he knew that just minutes into the reception her heels would be off and she would be back to five foot one. But he didn't care, she was cute short.

Sirius stood next to James holding the rings in his robe pocket. Every now and then he would steal a glance at Laura who stood across from him. He knew he shouldn't have been doing this, that their relationship had been over for years but he couldn't help himself. The green dress matched so perfectly with her brunette hair and deep brown eyes, he didn't see how anyone could not look at her.

He looked back up at James and Lily and grinned, James looked so happy up there with Lily at his side. The two really were meant to be together, you wouldn't think by how they acted toward each other in school, but now it was like you couldn't have one without the other. Love was a weird thing.

"The rings?" The minister asked James and Lily.

James mouthed 'oh' and looked almost shocked, like he wasn't expecting rings to be involved with this. "Sirius, oi, Padfoot, the rings." He hissed in Sirius's direction.

Sirius bought his hand up to his pocket and patted it with his hand a couple times like he had forgotten to being them, making James give him a look of despair. Then he smirked and moved his hand over to the other pocket and pulled the two rings out. "I'm not that bad, mate." He said quietly as he handed them over.

James gave him a playful glare and slid the ring on Lily's finger; she slid the ring on his finger. The two smiled warmly at each other and waited for the minister to say the words they had been waiting to hear for months.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may now kiss the bride."

James and Lily were instantly wrapped up in each others arms and their kissed deeply. The room was filled with applauding and happy cheers as they watched the couple make out at the alter. When they finally broke Lily motioned for all the girls to get in the isle so she couple throw the bouquet.

About fifteen young women ran into the isle and stood there in anticipation. Lily turned her back and chucked the flowers over her shoulders, she turned around while it was still flying through the air and it landed squarely in the arms of Laura, who screamed and immediately threw then back up as if that could undo what just happened. They then landed in Andy's arms and she looked to Heather and tossed them to her, it was like a hot potato game now. Heather, obviously not wanting them threw them behind her immediately.

Their last resting place would be in the arms of Maureen who caught them and gave Benjy a smile. He grinned back, not sure if she was playing around with him or not.

James and Lily were laughing up at the alter as they watched all this happen and James whipped his wand out and pointed it at his face to enhance the volume of his voice. "C'mon everyone! Off to the reception now!"

Since the majority of the people in the room were magical there was almost a simultaneous pop as over half the people in the room apparated. After that there was a few people leaving by the floo system they had set up in the front room and a couple using portkeys. After a minute or two there was only the eight old friends and the parents of the bride and groom, along with Lily's sister.

"Oh! Lily, my dear!" Cried her mother as she ran over with her muggle camera and gave her a long hug. "I'm so happy for you!"

"I know you are mum."

"Oh, and James." She said as she turned to face her new son-in-law. "I'm so happy Lily found a man as sweet and kind as you."

"Well," James started with a smile. "I'm glad I found a girl as sweet and kind as your daughter." He looked over and Lily and smiled before he leaned down and kissed her, it soon escalated into a little bit more then a quick peck.

"Arooo." Andy cried out quietly and very realistically as the two kissed before them, in a moment Remus joined in as well and the two newly weds stared at them with amused faces.

"Did you have to?" James asked.

"Yes." Remus answered making Heather snort in laughter.

"That's just scary." Petunia said as she walked up to the group, she had been back at their seats touching up her make up. "Honestly, it is."

"That's what you get for associating with people of the likes of them." Sirius said and wrapped his arm around Remus's neck. "Bloody werewolves." He grinned playfully.

Petunia raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms across her chest. They all knew she wasn't exactly the friendliest person in the world; the girls had met her before the boys had and she seemed sort of nice, but over the years she just got worse. It was one of the reasons she wasn't one of Lily's bridesmaids, she would just be complaining about the magic the whole time and arguing with her friends.

"Aside from that sort of talk." Mrs. Potter said waving her hand around and eyeing Sirius with a small smirk. "I think we should all head over to the reception, people will we wondering where we are."

"Good idea." James said and took out his wand. "_Accio _broom." He said and seconds later his broom came flying into the room, startling the Muggles. James jumped on and patted the seat behind it, he had specially had it charmed to fit two people comfortably. "Come on, love."

Lily grinned and got on the broom; James kicked off from the ground and hovered in the air for a few seconds.

"Oh wait!" Sirius said before the two went off and took out his own wand. "Can't be riding around without one of these." He waved it around and soon there was a long train following the broom that read 'just married' in French script.

"I just can't believe you're about to ride out into a predominantly Muggle neighborhood without any cloaking device." Remus mumbled and he took out his and charmed the broom. "Now you're only seen if you want to be seen." He said flipping it around and placing it back in his robes.

"Where would I be without you, Moony?" James asked.

"In jail." He responded shortly. "Now go on, fly away."

The two waved and zipped out of the room and out of sight.

The three Muggles stared at the spot where the two just flew from in slight shock, they had seen their daughter fly on a broom before but it was still quite a sight to see. They probably would have stood their and stared for longer if they hadn't been broken out of their trances by the Potters.

"Mr. and Mrs. Evans, Petunia?" Mrs. Potter asked. "Come with us, we bought a portkey to use, this way you won't be late for anything." she said and lead the two away from the main room.

"A porkey?" Mrs. Evans asked.

"Just a mode of transportation," she filled in. "I don't want any of you flooing and getting lost or apparating with us and getting sick, that would be terrible."

Soon only the six of them were left in the room. For the life of them they couldn't understand why. They got in a circle and grabbed hands with one another, in one loud pop they all disappeared from the room and were immediately transported to the reception room a few blocks down the road.

Lisa: Here we are, finally finished, thanks to this snow day.

Heather: I likes snows.

Lisa: I likes snows toos… Next chapter we'll cover the reception and stuff.

Heather: In another month.

Lisa: Hey, this was more three weeks delay rather then a month.

Heather: …

Lisa: … yeah…


	36. Reception

Lisa: Okay…. Okay…. Five months, five long horrid months but I'm back. I can't say for sure if the next update will be quick but I'll keep workin' on it. See the problem I ran into was I had so many ideas for later on in this story but none for right now. It became a real problem. But here we go, it's not as long as some of my chapters but it's something, or maybe it is as long... I dunno.

Reception

The guests piled into the reception fairly quickly and took their seats. They were all given a delicate glass of champagne for the toast, at each of their tables. The six marauders of course had their own table not far from Lily and James's. Once everyone was seated and talking softly amongst themselves Sirius stood up and tapped his fork against his glass, mocking the polite way to get everyone's attention. This did nothing.

"Hello? Attention… please? … C'mon guys I said please."

Still this did nothing. So being Sirius he cleared his throat summoned his voice and screamed at the top of his lungs. "OI! LOOK ANDY TOOK HER TOP OFF!"

The whole room went silent and all eyes were on Andy who sat in her seat looking dumbfounded. "Why do none of you look surprised?" She asked shrugging her shoulders and looking at them. "Seriously, what's wrong with you guys?"

"Okay let's all look at me now." Sirius said with a grin. "Good, now that I have all of your attention I would like to begin this toast if you don't mind." He cleared his throat. "I met James when I was eleven at Diagon Alley; I met Lily when I was eleven in the Great Hall. I've witnessed a lot between these two through my seven years at that school, and never, in a thousand years would I have thought they would hook up. She hated him, with a passion, and he loved her with a passion for some time before she even gave him the time of day.

"But I'm making Lils seem like the bad guy here, Jimmy was a great git, he really was I don't know why we were best mates and I still don't." He smirked looking to James who was glaring playfully. "However, I'll never forget that day in our seventh year when Lily was forced to go on a date with him. You see our dear Andy here, the one who took her top off –" Andy promptly reached up and punched him in the arm. "She made a bet with Lily that James wouldn't win the midnight race, and for those of you who don't know it's a rule breaking fiasco at Hogwarts, done at a secret time and place for all seventh years so professors wouldn't find out. But Andy made a bet with Lily saying if James won she had to go on a date with him.

"Needless to say James won and Lily had to date him, one date turned into two dates and two into three and so on until we're here where we are now, a wedding, a glorious wedding with an open bar, you know I love you lot right?" He asked looking to James and Lily. "I can't imagine anyone more perfect for one another then these two are, I hope they live a long and happy life together, and I'm sure they will. To Lily and James!"

"To Lily and James!" The rest of the room chorused right before they drank.

"Now, me and the rest of my maraudering friends have put together a bit of a slide show for the happy couple, put up the projector Moony!" he called out to Remus who quickly apparated over to the projector and slide the film on to plan the slideshow.

The first picture was one of a hazel eyed black haired baby who was chewing on a teething ring. A series of awes came from the group of people. The next one was of a young toddler with flaming red hair and brilliant green eyes; a bigger series of awes rang out.

The next few slides were similar, baby pictures of the couples, some contained Petunia and even one of James's held a picture of Laura, they were second cousins after all. Some more pictures includes Lily's first bike ride, James's first broom ride, Lily in a flowery Sunday dress and James in a clean cut set of dress robes, of course there were Halloween costumes as well, that was one thing Muggles and Wizards shared a love for.

Soon they got into a new age, a picture of James with his letter of acceptance to Hogwarts, a picture of Lily with her truck preparing to get in the car to go to King's Cross. Soon pictures of Hogwarts came into play. A picture of the Marauders in their dorm room, all making silly faces, and another one of the three girls, Andy had not yet come to the school.

Several more pictures past by, of birthday parties, Christmas's and the like until they reached a point that looked like their sixth year. By now the two groups had intertwined and a few pictures featuring James featured Laura and Andy as well. Many of the pictures that were displayed reminded the groups of the pranks they would pull, the musicals, the mirrors, the flooding, so many pranks that caused destruction, but funny destruction.

Soon they reached their adult hood, or what was considered their adult hood despite the fact they had yet to leave their teenage years. There were pictures of the group underage drinking in various Muggle and wizard pubs and clubs, to the distaste of the some of the older wizards and the parents in the room. Also pictures from Frank and Alice's wedding were included; one of them showed Laura clearly drunk in the background, she blushed deeply. Finally they all built up to a moving photograph of James and Lily on the day they were engaged.

When the slide show was over Sirius stood back up as everyone clapped. "Well that was lovely wasn't it? Brings back old memories, eh?"

There was a cheer from all of the people who made appearances in the show.

"Yes, well, I think I've talked long enough up here, shall we get on with the celebration? Yes I think we should, but before we get down and funky, I think a nice slow song to start off the happy couple."

Through magic a slow song appeared, it seems to flow around them and come straight from the air. Lily and James were first on the floor as they began to slow dance and a minute or so later Sirius and Laura were on the dance floor and after then Andy and Remus along with the rest of the bride's maids and groomsmen. Soon everyone was up and dancing.

Lily and James were silent as they danced they just held each other in their arms as they gently rocked back and forth. The rest of the couples in the room were not so quiet.

"I hate slow dancing." Andy mumbled as she and Remus swayed.

"It'll soon be over." Remus responded with an amused smirk.

"What's the point of dancing if you're not out of breath when you're finished?" She asked heatedly.

"To get close to someone else." Remus replied.

"I leave that to the bedroom." She smirked.

Laura sighed as she tried to do anything to avoid the gaze of Sirius as she danced with him, it wasn't hard, there height difference she was looking more into his chest then anything else.

She felt him poking her head and she shook her head to try and be rid of him. "Oh come on." Sirius said quietly. "What's got your panties in a twist?"

"Nothing." She said stubbornly.

Sirius chuckled. "You love me." He drawled out in a sing song voice

Her head shot up to look him in the eye. "I do not."

"Do too."

"That would be madness."

"Madness?" Sirius asked. "This isn't madness this is love." He drawled out again with a goofy grin.

"Shut up and just dance." She growled.

Maureen and Benjy were dancing, her head rested comfortably on his chest. They weren't arguing with one another or complaining, they were like Lily and James, dancing happily and gratefully. "Hey, Maureen?" He asked softly.

"Mm?" She answered too wrapped up in the moment to form words.

"I think James has the right idea, get close with the ones you love before this war destroys everything."

"Oh… Benjy… I don't wanna talk about the war."

"No just listen, he's right, get with the ones you want to be with before it's too late, I believe in that… so Maureen, would you go out with me on Saturday night?" He asked.

She took her head away from his chest and looked up at him with wide eyes. "Oh Merlin… Benny… yeah, sure Saturday night is great!"

"Great." He breathed and took a deep breath as if he had been holding it in.

On the other hand two of the 'couples' were dancing further apart then the rest. Heather and Peter who just happen to get stuck with one another, no one could be more unhappy then Heather about the arrangement. It wasn't the fact that it was Peter, but if it were up to her, she wouldn't be dancing with anybody, just sitting at the table drinking some fire whiskey and getting a head start on getting hammered.

Peter wasn't all too happy about it either, he would much rather be with James's second cousin Amy. James invited her almost completely out of obligation, he enjoyed her parents more then her, and he knew he had to invite them. He probably had only spoken one on one with Amy three or four times in his life and they were at family affairs. But when Peter met her at the wedding he seemed to take a shine to her. James was glad; Peter wasn't exactly the type of guy who had girls falling at his feet, he was shy and timid. He only hoped Amy could return the feelings.

In minutes the first dance was over and the music changed to more upbeat dancing music. Some of the couples immediately pulled apart such as Heather and Peter and Laura, much to Sirius's displeasure but others stayed together to dance weather it still be a slow loving one or a crazy fast one.

Lily and James stayed together and continued to dance as if they were dancing to a slow song; only thing that changed was they sped it up a little bit more. Andy and Remus were one of the couples that began dancing with a faster pace, it was obvious that Andy had given him a few dance lessons, where she learned to dance no one was too sure, they remembered when they first saw her dance she wasn't like this, but then again, she was only twelve at the time.

Heather walked away from Peter and over to the table, she was never one to dance. She liked to watch other people make fools of themselves and have it get caught on camera, not herself. She sat down and sipped her goblet of wine and watched as people fell over and ran into each other in their pathetic attempts at a beat. She laughed a few times as she caught sight of Andy trying to get Laura out on the dance floor and teach her a few new moves, moves not suited for one as innocent as her.

She grabbed her goblet and reached across the table to reach the elegant bottle of wine when she saw Chris sitting next her. She furrowed her brow and momentarily forgot the alcohol. "What's going on?" She asked as a greeting.

He chose not to respond, but instead reach forward and pull her into a kiss, his lips latching solidly on hers. Her eyes widened, not used to such boldness, normally she would have pulled apart and hit him. But she found herself liking this new kid more and more everyday, and she was a bit drunk so that made everything a little bit easier.

The music continued to blare through the room at an amazing level, no one was quite sure if they would be able to hear the next day or not. But no one cared, it was a wedding and a fun one at that, if they had to take a few days off work because of a hangover or ringing ears or maybe even if they muscles would not permit them to move past the edge of their bed, so be it. And most of the people in the room had the feeling that they would have to be owling, or calling in "sick" the next day.

&

Andy wandered away from the dance floor about half way through the night, Remus was tired, but as always she was still at the top of her game in the middle of the party. She sashayed over to the record player that magically changed records when needed. She reached into her bust and pulled out a small pouch, she opened it and took out a small record. Using the wand that was hidden in the small wand holder that was concealed on her thigh under her dress she enlarged the record she took out and placed it on the pile of records that were next in line to be played. The one playing was one of James's favorites; she knew it only had one song left before it was done. Now all she had to do was wait.

She walked back over to the sidelines of the dance floor where she saw Maureen standing with Laura, waiting for her. "What was that all about?" Maureen asked shrugging her shoulders.

Andy smiled innocently. "Just wanted to see the line up of songs I have to dance to for the next two hours."

Laura scoffed. "Well I don't believe you, but at this point I don't really care anymore."

The girls walked over to the open bar and grabbed a few drinks before they would go out and dance again. "So, I saw you and Benjy gettin' awfully close over there." Andy grinned. "Somthin' we should know about?"

"He asked me out." She said barley containing her excitement.

"Well it's about bloody time." Laura laughed as she took her delicate champagne glass from the man at the bar, it was very different compared to Andy beer goblet and Maureen's shot of bourbon. "We were about to make bets on when this would finally happen."

"About to?" Andy asked appalled. "Heather owes me four galleons now."

Maureen rolled her eyes and walked away from the bar. "As insulted as I am about the fact you're betting on my love life, nothing in the world could possibly bug me right now."

"Oh I'm sure I could find somethin'… here comes somethin' now." Andy said with a smirk as she spotted Sirius walking over with a drunken swagger.

"Oh God." Laura mumbled and covered her face with her hands. "Why can't he just leave me alone?"

"He loves you." Maureen said and then turned to Andy. "How much you want to bet we catch them tonguing in the closet later."

"Hey." Laura said.

"Now how does it feel to have people betting on you?"

"In my defense I wasn't part of their bet."

Sirius had made his way over to the three girls and was grinning like a Cheshire Cat. "'Ello ladies." He slurred.

Andy scoffed as she looked him up and down. "You're hammered." She stated. "How much did you drink?" She asked with a laugh escaping her mouth. She quickly used her hand to cover up her mouth to prevent herself from spitting out her own drink.

"Uh… this is my… uh… pffft… um…" He said with a confused look displayed across his face.

"Do you remember what happened last time you got really hammered, and I mean really, really hammered?" Andy asked.

He thought. "Uh… no."

"Exactly, every time you get really drunk to the point where you forget stuff somethin' bad happens, especially when I get really drunk too, one of us has to stay remotely sober." She explained.

"That's highly unlikely." Laura said rolling her eyes.

"What?" Andy asked turning to face her. "Ya think I can't stay sober for the night?"

Laura walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Andy, I love you like a sister which is why I get to be the one to say this, you can't. You can say you'll stay sober all you want but you'll end up getting drunk off your ass in an hour I would put my money on it, look at yourself now. I wouldn't trust you to ride a broom back to your flat."

"I am completely sober."

"'Ow much did ya 'ave 't drunk?" Sirius asked slurring his words and swaying violently.

She sighed. "I dunno."

"See, your intoxicated, now go find Remus so you don't get yourself in trouble." Laura said pushing her away and to the other side of the room where Remus stood talking to James.

Maureen had left the group to leave them alone, she knew the old couple still had feelings for each other and maybe a drunk Sirius wouldn't prove it now, but soon she would discover it and maybe the two would become a couple once more. That is if Sirius could keep civil for a while and not get a new girlfriend every week which for Sirius would be a challenge seeing how much he frequented clubs.

"S'Laura…" Sirius said leaning against the wall. "Wha'cha think of the party?"

"It's interesting." She said sipping her glass of wine as she smirked, amused at his drunken attitude. "I can't say I approve of your drinking though, you're liver will fail you at twenty five."

"I can get me a new l'ver…"

She scoffed. "Sirius I swear you are one of a kind." She said before turning and walking away to where she sent Andy. She now saw her childhood friend hanging on Remus's shoulder with James laughing, Remus could use some help with her.

"Is zat a good t'ing or bad t'ing?" He asked a nearby man who innocently walked over to get himself something to snack on.

The man shrugged and walked away leaving Sirius very confused.

The record player stopped playing music for a couple seconds while the record changed and a song came on that James and Lily had certainly not put on the playlist but Andy seemed to know all about it. The second the upbeat tune came on she began jumping and led Remus out to the dance floor. No one had no idea what to make of this music but the energetic couple seemed to know how to dance to it. In fact they not only seemed to know how to dance to it but they appeared to have a whole routine for it.

It had to be Andy's doing for this song, after all, why would James and Lily request a song by an American singer? They didn't even know who Charlie Daniels was and his apparently popular American hit 'Devil Went Down to Georgia'.


	37. Dark Lord Strikes Again

Sirius moaned loudly as he laid sprawled out on… a couch

Lisa: This story is in such a hard place to write for me I have no idea why.

Steph: At least it's getting done.

Lisa: Why are you here again?

Steph: Well Heather moved and is yet to get internet so I'm filling in while she's gone.

Lisa: Oh… okay.

Dark Lord Strikes Again

Sirius moaned loudly as he lay sprawled out on… a couch? He looked around and quickly realized he was indeed not in his home he was in someone else's. A slight panic ran over him as he wondered what he could have possibly done at James and Lily's wedding the night before. It was one hell of a night, he knew he got drunk but he also didn't remember much of the later part of the night, he had no idea where he was or how he got here.

He sat up further and gazed around the living room. It was homely and yet very, very familiar. Taking his fingers he massaged the bridge of his nose deep in though, he'd been here before, he almost had the room memorized he realized. If you walked down the hall you would enter the dining room, beyond that the kitchen and in the kitchen the back stairs. If you walked up those stone stairs you would enter the second floor, on the second floor was four bedrooms on the left and two on the right along with two bathrooms. Then there was another set of stairs along with a door to the master bedroom. If you walked up those stairs there was a door at the top. In his mind Sirius opened the door and saw a short hallway with two doors with one single light illuminating the way. He opened the first door and saw a Gryffindor themed bedroom with Quidditch posters, a Hogwarts trunk at the foot do the four poster bed and –

"Oh Merlin." He mumbled to himself as he got up swaying slightly. Now he knew where he was, he was in Mr. and Mrs. Potter's home, he must have been really hung over not to remember the house he lived in for several years. He mentally kicked himself for not remembering where he was and having to basically run through the entire layout of the house before remembering.

He stumbled his way into the kitchen hanging onto the walls as he went. When he entered he saw Mrs. Potter and another woman with auburn hair standing next to her helping her make breakfast. "Um… morning…" He greeted still a little confused as to why he was in the Potter home.

"Oh Sirius dear!" Mrs. Potter cried as she walked over top give him a hug. "You're awake; it's so good to see you up and about. You were so far gone last night we couldn't even get you to your bedroom upstairs."

"What time is it?" He asked.

"Nearing two in the afternoon me and Mrs. Evans are preparing lunch." She said disapprovingly. "All the rest of the kids are already up and outside playing."

He raised his eyebrows; she was treating them as though they were still second years after a big sleepover party. Not that her son was just married and he had a massive hangover. "Um, okay…"

"Go on, now, they're outside. Lily and Jamie are there too. I'm glad you're awake, their leaving for their honeymoon in a couple hours, its good you get to see them off. Now go on, out their." She ushered him out the back door and onto the patio where he saw them all sitting in the garden on the benches and on the not running fountain.

"Hey, guys..." He mumbled as he walked over to them tripping over his own feet a little bit. "What's going on?"

"Sleeping beauty awakes." Andy said with a smirk.

"Shut up." He said and sat down heavily on the bench between Heather and Remus. "Um, why are we here? Why am I not home and still sleeping?"

"Because," James began. "We all got the idea to have a sleepover thing just like the old days before me and Lil went to our honeymoon. We agreed all of us were a little to wasted to go home. So we all came here, along with Lily's folks her sister went home however. You probably wouldn't remember, you were so drunk."

"James and Remus had to carry you in the house after you passed out at the party," Heather laughed.

"Mmm…" Sirius moaned as he lazily reached over to give her a punch on the arm. "Merlin, I can hardly remember anything."

"That's no surprise." Andy said with a roll of her eyes.

"When are you two leaving anyway?" He asked James and Lily looking up at them with half closed eyes, still not used to the brightness of the sun.

"Tonight," Lily said with a grin as she looked up at her husband. "We're going off to Wales, only for three nights though, we don't want to be away too long. What with the war going on and all, the Order will need us."

Sirius snorted loudly. "Oh come on, I thought you were going to be away for a week? The Order can survive a week without you, you're not that important. Go and have fun, nothing bad will happen."

"Try all you like, mate, to convince them." Remus said shaking his head. "Won't work we already tried."

"Our minds are made up," James insisted. "We're going for three nights and it's final, we've already called the lady we're renting the house from and told her to make it a three night say."

"Then we're not letting you come back to the Order until the full week is up." Peter said.

"You can stop up from coming to meetings." Admitted James. "But you can't stop us from coming to help you if anything does happen."

"I've said it before and I'll say it again," Sirius sighed waving his hand around absently. "Nothing can happen in a week, it's not like Voldemort is waiting for you two to go away and then he'll strike! Like I said, you're not that important."

"It's true," Andy stated with a shrug. "You're importance to us is very low."

Lily reached out and gave her a playful tap on the shoulder. "Stop that, now I don't want any of you fighting while we're gone. Mummy and daddy will be back soon."

"Who said we'll fight?" Sirius asked.

James stared at him blankly for a moment. "I know all of you very well and I know that the second me and Lils leave you will start a fight and end up breaking a nose or two."

The gaze of everyone in the group slowly turned over to Andy and Sirius who were completely oblivious to it all for a moment before noticing. "What?" Sirius asked looking at them with a face of confusion similar to the one Andy was wearing.

"You know, there's a reason you two made such good beaters." Heather said.

"We also worked very well together." Andy said at a feeble attempt to defend her and Sirius.

"Yes, you worked well together beating the crap out of people." Laura said calmly.

"Andy, love… you know I love you more then anything." Remus said putting his arm around her. "But it's true you're unbelievably violent."

The argument would have raged on further into the afternoon but the French doors slid open and Mrs. Potter appeared on the patio whipping her hands off on her apron. "Come on kids, lunch is ready!"

Immediately they bolted up from their respective seats and raced each other to the patio, it was a good thing Mrs. Potter left because otherwise she would have been trampled. Lunch was heavier then a normal lunch would be, it filled them up like a dinner should, but none of them minded, it was a celebration of James and Lily's wedding so they had a right to pig out a bit.

When their lunch was finally over it was well past three o'clock, and since James and Lily had their floo appointment to get to Wales at four, they had to get moving. Their things were already packed and awaiting them upstairs so it didn't take long for them to prepare themselves to leave. By three thirty they were standing by the fire place with luggage in hand and ready to leave, they had to fill out a little bit of paper work before going on the honeymoon, you always had to when you traveled such a distance by the floo network.

"We'll be seeing you all soon." Lily said with a wave of her hand, she couldn't help but show a off a gleeful smile though.

"I hope not." Sirius replied. "I want you two to be up there in that cabin thing of yours for a full week. Making lots of babies, I want Mini Marauders."

"Oh!" Mrs. Potter cried with a grin and covered her face along with Mrs. Evans; both seemed amused and horrified at the conversation at the same time. "This is not a conversation a mother should be hearing!"

"You guys better go." Remus said giving James a pat on the shoulder in the direction of the fireplace. "Or you'll end up missing your appointment."

"Alright." James said and walked over to the fireplace with his entire trunk of luggage and a handful of the green powder. "I'll see you all in a few days then." He gave a wink to Sirius. "Ministry of Magic, Transportation Department."

With that a great green fire burst up and when the flames diminished James was gone.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that." Mrs. Evans breathed. "Always makes me jump, if your father were here I'm sure he'd have something to say." Lily's father was at home with Petunia, they didn't want her to be alone in the house for too long, what with that new boyfriend of hers. He decided to stay with her since Mr. Potter was going to be away for most of the day, taking care of some of the legal business left over from the party.

"Don't worry, mum," Lily said as she grabbed a handful of the powder and made her way over to the opening. "It's completely safe."

"It looks perfectly safe; what with all that fire engulfing you… why should I be worried?" She asked.

"Bye." She grinned. "Ministry of Magic, Transportation Department." She said and threw the green powder down at her feet.

Mrs. Evans instinctively cried out when the fire covered her oldest daughter and caused her to disappear. She held her heart with her hand and took a deep breath.

"Come on." Mrs. Potter said leading Mrs. Evans into the next room. "Best get your mind off the honeymoon, I'm sure there's something we could occupy our time with."

"If you don't mind." Heather called out after them before they left. "I should probably head home, places to go, people to see."

"Me too," Laura said biting her lip. "I have so much I have to do."

Without making excuses for themselves Sirius, Andy, Remus and Peter nodded in agreement. The bulk of them probably wanted to go home, sleep, or shower in their own homes, but didn't want to insult the caring Mrs. Potter. Besides they all had a hell of a night and all were still a little hung over from the festivities, especially Sirius.

"Oh, well alright then." She said with a smile. "I can have your clothes owled to you when I've finished cleaning them." All the friends had clothes over at the Potters house leftover from when they stayed nights in their school years. Nothing extravagant, just some dirty old jeans, a couple shirts and some shoes. Not worth bringing home and not worth throwing away, so they stored them in a bow shrunken down to fit under James's bed. Sirius though, still had a whole wardrobe of old clothes he didn't take with him when he moved out.

"You don't have to clean them." Remus said.

"But I want to, dear; Merlin knows you kids have enough on your plate in this day and age. Not to mention you now have to find your way in the world, it's the least I can do."

"Okay well, thank you, Mrs. Potter." He replied.

"Remus, how many times have I told you to call me mum?" She asked in such a motherly manor it made him smile. "After all you've been friends with Jamie so long you practically are family."

"I know, it still feels odd though." He blushed.

Andy smiled and wrapped her arms around him. "Maybe to you, but not to all of us, thank you, mommy, we'd be positively delighted if you could clean and send us our clothes." She said for Remus.

"Now that that's settled," Sirius said as he walked over to the fireplace grabbing some floo powder as he went. "I think I am going to head back home now, if you can all withstand my absence, that is." He said his voice dripping with self obsession.

"I think we can manage." Heather spoke in a monotone. "Besides, we all have to go, it's just about four now."

"Hm," Sirius said glancing down at his watch. "You're right… for once, we better get going."

"It was lovely meeting all of you." Mrs. Evans called after them as they all began grabbing handfuls of floo powder, this had been the first time she met a couple of them since she wasn't in the wizarding world and all.

They all finished their goodbyes and quickly exited the large estate going back to their homes for the rest of the day and presumably night, you never knew when one of them got the urge to go out to a party. Mrs. Evans went home later that night after the two women did whatever it was women of their age did to occupy their time, the teens really didn't know.

&

The next day went by smoothly, no Dark Lord occurrences, no death eater sightings, no unusual deaths in the Muggle world… everything was going alright so far. They had an Order meeting tomorrow morning, very early in the morning since a few of the members had business to attend to later that night.

Sirius sat in his living room absent mindedly flipping through the channels on his TV, he may not have been completely savvy in the Muggle world, but he did enjoy TV. He stumbled upon a news channel they were reporting something about a break in at an apartment in East London. He shook his head as he watched the news cast, the Muggles were having enough trouble in their own world without the wizarding world going to war right next door.

He changed the channel and settled on watching some sitcom he didn't quite understand. But before he could get into understanding it he felt his flat shake as if an earthquake just erupted through the town. He shot up from his lounging position and bolted to the window to look out at the streets below. From his position up there he could see destruction down the street and quite a few people running for their lives. It seems he spoke too soon when he thought everything would be fine until James and Lily returned.

He didn't have to think twice, he didn't even pull on a pair of boots; he grabbed his wand and ran out of his flat in his ripped jeans and black tank. He momentarily thought of apparating down to the street, but then thought of the Muggles, they didn't need him popping up around them just to add to the confusion of it all. So he ran out the door, the quake had cause the elevator to temporarily go out so he had to take the stairs, shame he wasn't on the bottom floor. On his way down he conjured up his patronus and commanded it to call the rest of the Order, they had a crisis.

When he arrived down at the front door he swung it open and watched for a moment, no sign of any death eaters yet, but this was defiantly not a natural occurrence. He stepped out into the street, most of the bystanders were gone, but a few remained nearby. A couple people he noticed had minor injuries, a cut on their head, or arm, something thankfully not life threatening.

As he cautiously made his way down the street the ground beneath him shook once more. He nearly fell over but caught himself before he did so. He walked forward with his wand at the ready toward to explosions he was hearing. There couldn't be that many of them, it wasn't as bad as he had seen in the past, no more then twenty death eaters he would guess. He hoped the rest of the Order arrived soon; he was certainly no match for twenty death eaters.

As if on cue there was a crack next to him and there stood Benjy whipping his wand out from his pocket. "I thought things were going along to smoothly." He said giving Sirius a nod.

"Glad you came." Sirius breathed.

"Where's everyone else?"

"Not here yet I'm guessing."

There was another loud crack and they looked to their left to see Remus and Andy walking toward them both with wands. "Think again, dog boy." Andy said sliding into her shoes a little further.

"Where's the trouble?" Remus asked and looked out at the street. "Oh."

"Let's go." Sirius said walking in the direction he was before Benjy had showed up.

"Whoa, Pads, don't you think we should wait?" Remus asked grabbing his shoulder and turning him around. "There are only four of us."

"I don't think the death eaters are waiting." Sirius said as another explosion sounded off making the buildings shake and the lamp posts rattle.

"_Shit_, that was loud." Andy said removing her hands from her ears.

"Come on." Sirius said and shook Remus off his shoulder before leaving.

Benjy sighed and rubbed his face. "Well, can't let him go alone."

"No, we can't." Remus said and the three began following him just as another crack sounded out around them Laura and Marlene appeared walking quickly toward them.

"There's death eaters attacking the school!" Laura cried as she ran forward, in front of them. "Dumbledore, McGonagall, Moody, Gideon and Fabien are all there protecting it, all the stronger members are going there, we're on our own here."

Sirius sighed and nodded his head. "Alright, we're on our own then."

"Don't think that fast," Heather said as she stepped out with Chris following her, they hadn't even heard them coming. "Your brain can't handle it."

"Chris…" He said in wonder. "What are you doing here?" Chris was not a member of the Order; he was a civilian and therefore shouldn't be engaging in battle with them.

"I was there when Heather got the call, I don't care what's happening, I'm gonna help fight." He said firmly.

"Alright then." He said. "Now without further interruption, let's kick some death eater ass."

The group of eight walked down the street and into the battle they were sure to fight. As they entered the area to their amazement they saw them, the group of death eaters attacking in the open. Voldemort was getting bold, he usually attacked at night, this must have been a distraction they realized, for the attack near Hogwarts, Voldemort must have wanted the Order to not be at its strongest when defending the school.

They stared for a moment as they watched the spells fly and the curses kill, but it wasn't long until one of the death eaters spotted them and began the attack. They all braced themselves for the fight and then ran at the Voldemort supporters like it was the last thing they ever do.


	38. Casualties of War

Lisa: Yes

Lisa: Yes! Her we go, I'm working!

Heather: You didn't write anything yet.

Lisa: I'm writing this dialogue aren't I?

Casualties of War

The battle had raged on for hours, and though the young fighters tried their hardest they weren't able to subdue their enemy. Many of the Muggles who happen to get caught up in the fight were either injured or killed, they didn't receive any more help though save for a couple of wizards who lived a few streets over. Unfortunately their bravery was not without consequence, they helped, but they lost both of their lives in the process. It was an unwelcome turn of events, but this was a war.

When the battle died down and the smoke cleared the men and women saw what was left of the street that became their battlefield. The road was torn up and streetlamps were down, it was impossible to tell what some of the debris was, most of it had been blow to bits by some sort of curse or hex.

Sirius pushed himself up from the ground where he was lying on his stomach, groaning in pain as he tried to stand. He didn't remember getting knocked out but here he was. With blurry and unfocused eyes he looked around at the faces surrounding him. He blinked heavily trying to try and rid the haze that covered his normally keen eyes.

"Don't try to move too much, Pads."

That would be Remus… defiantly. Sirius thought after a moment of deep thought. Leave it to him to know exactly what he should be and should not be doing. "Wha' 'appened?" He grunted tenderly touching his head only to find blood dripping down his face and onto his hands.

"You were knocked out by a stunning hex we think, but it gave you a pretty nasty gash too hit your head on the way down we think." His friend explained. "Luckily Chris found you in time before you were killed."

He looked up and saw the face of the new guy peering down at him in worry. "Guess I owe you a lager, huh?" He said with a smirk still trying to stand on his own.

"Sirius are you stupid?" The constantly irritated voice of Andy asked as he heard her heavy boots come closer. "If you move now you'll fall down again and get knocked out…_again. _ And I am not in any kinda mood to lug your heavy ass around.

"Good to see you alive too, Andy." He greeted sluggishly pushing himself up so he was sitting on his feet. "Now help me up."

"Padfoot… I don't think –" Remus began.

"Moony to be honest I don't care what you think at the moment." He snapped holding his hand out for someone to take. "Oh… Remus I'm sorry, I'm just a little on edge."

The werewolf smiled, always understanding and sighed in defeat. "I know, c'mon." He grabbed his arm and flung it over his shoulder for support. "Edgar and Marlene have already gone to alert the Order about the outcome."

"Good to hear." Sirius mumbled as he stood and swayed once on his feet nearly falling down if Remus hadn't been there to catch him. "Oh… bloody hell."

"You okay?" Remus asked.

"Yeah… yeah, fine, just a little dizzy is all."

"We should get him to Mungo's." Heather said as she walked over after checking some of the bodies. "We have a couple survivors over there too."

"We'll take him." Andy said taking Sirius's other arm and slinging it over her own shoulders with a small grunt, somewhere she was injured. "You guys take care of all this." She said looking to Remus and sighing before they apparated away, being so weak there was no way Sirius could alone and Remus wasn't exactly at his top strength at the moment so if they wanted to apparate with Sirius, they would have needed two people.

The three appeared in the front office in a flash with Sirius still hanging limply from them completely in tact. They walked over to a bench and set their friend down on the seat. "Stay with him, I'll go fetch a healer." Remus said and jogged off to the front desk pushing past people as he went.

"I'm really fine." Sirius breathed weakly.

She nodded slowly in disbelief. "If you're so fine then how come ya couldn't take one step forward?"

"I jus'… like th' thought of bein' carried, okay so it's not by beautiful women in bikinis and I'm not on a throne, but… but it works."

She rolled her eyes. "Right, so, it's not that head injury? That big egg on the back of your head's always been there?"

Confused he lifted up his hand and felt the back of his head. Through his massively thick hair he felt a large bump and something wet and sticky nearly covering the whole area. "Bloody hell." He murmured in shock.

"Yeah," she agreed and brushed some hair out of his eyes being unusually kind to him. His breathing was getting a little labored and his eyes heavy, she was no healer but she knew this wasn't a good sign. "Hey," she said patting him on the cheek. "Basic head injury 101, no sleepin'."

"Tired." He mumbled shutting his eyes once more, the apparition must have tired him out more then they thought.

"Yeah, hun, I know," she said shifting his head slightly so it wasn't at such a painful angle. "But ya need to hang in there, okay Sirius?"

"'Kay…"

She looked around franticly seeing that she couldn't keep him from falling asleep for much longer. "Where's that damn healer?" Once again staring down at him she noticed the blood dripping further down his face and on his chest. "Hey, ya know its a good thing that tank top is black, huh? No stains to worry about." It seems though her humor was lost because his condition was rapidly deteriorating in front of her eyes.

"Andy?" She looked down at him, his dark eyes were open and staring at her with a slightly furrowed brow. "You hurt?"

"Huh?" She asked dumbly.

His gaze settled down to her shoulder where there was a long tear in her shirt across her collar bone, she didn't even notice it. "Would you look at that…?" She whispered and tenderly prodded it with her finger, she hissed.

She reached for the collar of her leather jacket and gently pulled it down over her shoulder. All along her shoulder she saw several lacerations and her shirt was horribly torn, they were still bleeding. That must have been the reason she felt so light headed. "Holy Christ." She mumbled, how could she not of noticed this?

"Sectusempra." Sirius mumbled closing his eyes once more.

"What?"

"It's a curse… you need to get it healed… blood." He managed to force out.

She immediately brushed off her injury and was once again helping him. "C'mon Sirius, no sleeping, you know better."

"Can't help it."

"I know, just… just stay awake just for a little while longer. Where is that damn healer!?" She cried looking around once more, when she looked back down he was drifting off fast, she grabbed his face and made him look at her. "Sirius don't make me kiss you just to get you to stay awake, that punishes me just as much as it punishes you."

"Sorry." He mumbled.

At that moment two medi witch and wizard came running over with a levitating gurney. "Finally," She walked over to Remus. "What took so long?"

"Apparently Voldemort really gave us one hell of a blow this time." He motioned around to the many other people in the room waiting around with injuries of their own. "Love," he said getting her attention. "You're bleeding."

"Yeah, I know." She said pulling her jacket around her tighter. "It's nothin'."

"The hell it's nothing."

"Oh come off it, what about you? You're limping."

"It's nothing."

"The hell it is." Andy growled, not noticing the similarities between their answers. "Don't give me that shit." She said as they followed the healers down the hall, however once they took him into a room they were forced to stand outside of it and wait patiently.

They only sat still for a few seconds before she felt her jacket slowly being pulled off. "This is hardly the time or place, Remus." She moaned.

"Shut up… you're lucky, looks like it just skimmed your shoulder. This could be so much worse."

"Did it rip my jacket?"

"Little bit."

"Damn."

He rolled his eyes. "Are you positive you're okay?"

She sighed deeply and gave off a low sound from the back of her throat. "You know I am." And without warning she dropped down to her knees and pulled up his pant leg, surprising him. "What have we here? And you think I'm bad off."

She gently poked at the swollen ankle Remus was currently supporting. "Doesn't look too bad, just a sprain, you should at least splint it. Have you been walking on it this whole time?" She asked allowing him to bend down and, using his wand, put a splint on his foot.

"I'll have it checked out." He promised her. "Now you come up here so I can look at those little cuts of yours."

"I told you they're fine."

"But they're still bleeding." He shot back irritably once again using some spell to wrap some bandages around her shoulder and under her arm. When he was finished he watched her move her shoulder around in painful circles, testing the tightness of the bandages.

"Not bad." She commented.

"Of course." He smiled.

Just before their conversation was able to go any further they saw a few people coming briskly down the corridor, they must have been yelled at for their running because both of them were a bit shocked to see them simply walking. They were first approached by Benjy who had a thin sheet of sweat covering him and Marlene hanging on his arm for support it looked like, behind him was Chris, Heather and Laura.

"What's the good word?" Benjy asked stopping in front of them.

The two shrugged but Remus eventually answered. "He's in there now." He pointed to the door. "Took us a while to get a healer, apparently the place is pretty swamped."

Andy agreed, "he was getting' pretty bad though he had an egg in the back of his head, the apparition must have taken its toll on his system. Or the blood loss was finally gettin' to him. Almost passed out before we got anybody to look at him."

"Did he?"

"No."

Benjy sighed. "Well at least that's good news."

"And what's the bad news?" Andy asked hesitantly. "Are any of you hurt?"

Small glances were exchanged between them and Marlene answered. "Benjy hurt his wrist," that would explain why he was holding it close to his stomach. "Laura got a bump on the head from some kinda curse, not bad, I checked her out, no concussion just a little blood but she should still get checked out for any lasting affects." A little while ago Marlene had aspirations to become a healer, but never went through with her plans. "Chris dislocated his shoulder from a fall but Benjy set it straight, Heather's fine, just some cuts and bruises-"

"That's what you say." Heather accused rubbing her side. "Feels like I was plowed into by a train."

"And it seems I may have been hit with some kind of curse like Laura, I'm burned on my side but I was able to fix it and relieve the pain. I'm not sure or how long though."

Remus looked baffled. "How come you're not being looked at by a healer?"

She waved it off. "It's not that bad, people are worse then me."

"Like Sirius." Laura whispered fearfully, she was only voicing what everyone was thinking. The head was a sensitive area to get damaged, they didn't know exactly what he was hit with, they called it a stunning charm but really none of them had the faintest clue. For all they know it could be a curse that none of them knew how to cure, the next time they went in there to see him he might cease to be the Sirius they all know and love.

Remus sat out there alone; he was the only Marauder present. James was off with Lily and no doubt had received a message of some sort by now, peter was Merlin knows where working probably and wasn't able to receive the message or leave without fear of losing his job. No one knew them like they knew each other, sure most of them went to Hogwarts together but they didn't share a dorm room with them or spend the holidays and summers with them… they were brothers and when your brother is in trouble like this you can't help but need your other brothers around.

The four of them were a family, Sirius was the oldest, he was the player, the one who flirted a little too much with the ladies, the one who bummed around but had the uncanny ability to take charge and protect everyone. He protected his younger brothers with every bone in his body when the time called for it, though he wasn't a typical leader. He was rough and crude when people would pick on his baby brothers, spoke with his fists more so then with his words.

James was the next in line, not too much younger then Sirius but seemed to be more together then his elder brother. In times of sure crisis you were inclined to look to him for guidance, he was growing up faster and was the most mature… on some levels, defiantly not all. But you could see in his eyes that he was prepared for anything that would come your way, he was ready to step up and take the damage in place of anybody close to him. Sacrifice himself.

Peter was third child, though he was physically the youngest of the group he was never considered as such. He was the awkward and shy one, who wanted to do good and help but found it to be difficult at times. He could shrug just about anything off and say what happens happens, he always did that with school work when Remus tried to help him. Some would say he was a lost cause, but his brothers knew better then to think that.

And Remus was the baby. He was always the baby. He was tall, thin, a nerd, the one people picked on. Not anymore, thank God, but in school before he was known as a Marauder he ran into his fair share of bullies and he was always pulled out of the situation by over protective big brothers. He could hold his own, but was shy and hesitant to do so, he needed encouragement and thankfully over the years he gained that constant encouragement all because of the three boys he called his brothers.

They were a family, even the girls; he knew Sirius regarded Andy as a sister to him. The two were close, sure their banter was rude and harsh at times but they loved one another like a family and he could see just how nervous she was about his condition. Same went with Heather, they hadn't really known each other for long, sixth year was when they really started talking if he recalled correctly but she was always picking on him in a sisterly manor, the same was said with Lily. Laura was a different case, seeing as the two dated you could never say they were brother sister close… what they had was a different type of close.

"How is everyone else?" Remus found himself asking as he thought about all their relationships. He quickly found his family expanding over the Marauders and entering the entire Order they already lost some, what if they lost more?

"Everyone else?" Marlene asked softly.

"Yeah," he nodded not liking the tone of her voice. "McGonagall, Dumbledore, The Longbottoms, The Weasley Brothers… everyone else." He repeated.

"W – well…" She stuttered slightly. "We didn't want to say anything… because of Sirius… but…"

"But what?" Andy snapped almost standing up but being pushed down to her seat by Remus.

Benjy placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "Gideon and Fabian…" He whispered. "According to Dumbledore… Voldemort took them personally and he… he killed them both."

There was a heavy silence laying itself uncomfortably over the hallway. Andy and Remus held their mouths slack as they stared disbelievingly, Laura had begun to quietly cry causing Heather to put an awkward arm around her.

"They're dead?" Andy dared to ask. "Both of them?"

Benjy nodded, speaking for the group. "We saw them," he motioned to Marlene and himself. "When we went back to check on Dumbledore and the others at Hogwarts. They were on the ground…"

"Dead." Marlene finished for him in a voice that couldn't possibly be heard, but somehow everyone did.


	39. Woes of the Red Heads

**AN:** I know I've been gone for a very long time and I can't promise I'm back now I'm just putting up another chapter since I'm on break from my classes now. Thank you to those readers who are left and still care about this, I appreciate your support and if you fancy sending a review my way I wouldn't stop you (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

The Woes of the Red Heads

James and Lily returned early from their honeymoon, the second they heard about the attack in fact. But stfl they arrived too late to be of any help. By the time they arrived at the hospital everyone had long been cared for and were dolefully sitting in the waiting room for updates on Sirius's condition. The newlyweds had found about the Weasley brothers outside of the hospital via patronus sent by Dumbledore.

Even though he knew what he had to face he was still shocked by the sight. Remus was sitting with his arm around Andy, he had bandages covering his foot and a crutch next to him along with an assortment of bruises covering his exposed flesh. Andy had similar wrapping on her chest and neck, her left eye was black and blue. Benjy was in a similar position with Marlene with his arm around her. He was cradling his left arm and had a few bruises and band-aids but aside from that's seemed fine, Marlene only had a large white bandage on her cheek nothing else damaged was visibly though by the way she sat and held her side it appeared to be causing her pain. Heather was sitting beside Laura, she only had some bruising and bandages, nothing seemed serious, Laura had a white bandage around her head and there was a faint red dot seeping through, she must've been hit by a curse which would cause it to have continuous bleeding. Chris was next to them with his arm in a sling and shoulder bound tight, but other then the minor wounds he held that seemed to be the only thing. Peter was there as well, but he held no wounds, he must not have made it in time to do any fighting.

Lily was the first to make their presence known as she stepped forward, the souls of her shoes clicking heavily in the silent room. Slowly the people looked up but gave her no smiles of reassurance. Remus was the first to stand, he leaned heavily on the crutch as his adrenaline rush was now gone and he could no longer walk on it without some help.

He approached the two solemnly and opened his mouth to speak but found he couldn't say anything so he promptly shut it, James on the other hand has something to say. "Where's Sirius?" He asked quietly, still unaware of his friends condition, at this point he was assuming the worst.

"Alive." Remus said quickly to rid James's mind of any foul thoughts. "He's resting in his room, the healers won't let any of us in right now. You can try, maybe they'll let you in for a minute or so."

He nodded and placed his hand on the small of Lily's back to guide her over to Remus, silently telling her to sit and wait with them while he spoke with the healers. She nodded and went with Remus helping him with his crutch as he sat down beside any and she took the seat on the other side of him.

James redirected himself over to the counter where a medi-witch sat quietly. "Um, hello, could I have the room number of Sirius Black?"

She gave him a sympathetic look, she must've known the whole situation due to the mass amount of injured people in her waiting room. "I'm sorry, he's resting, the healers aren't permitting visitors at the moment."

"Please, he's… he's my best friend. I - I have to see him, I have to know he okay."

She sighed and sucked on her teeth in thought for a moment before looking back up at him and giving a soft smile, the rest of the friends had seen him why shouldn't he if it was only for a moment? "Alright, but only for a few minutes, he needs his rest."

"Yes, okay, thank you, thank you so much." James said feeling like he was out of breath as he took deep breaths trying to slow his heart rate.

"He's lucky," she said as she led him down the hall and to a nearby door, "to have friends like you and the rest of them out there, especially in times like these." She finished gravely opening the door for him. "I'll be back in five minutes."

"Thank you." He said once more as she smiled and closed the door behind him leaving him alone in the room with Sirius.

James stood in the doorway for a minute staring down at his long time best friend. He had never seen him look so… helpless. There was a bandage around his head with a large red splotch staining the white. That side of his face was also covered in bruises and his eye was probably swollen shut. The crisp white blanket was pulled up to his chest so James couldn't see any of his other possible injuries but he suspected that was al there was. He didn't see any enlarged parts on his legs or stomach where there would be a cast and there weren't any crutches handy, though with that had wound Sirius wouldn't be getting up any time soon.

Slowly he approached the bed and sat down in the empty chair beside it. On the table beside the bed he saw a various assortment of healing potions and bandages. He was thankful Sirius got a private room, he didn't think he could be in here with someone else even if they were unconscious, especially if their family came in or something. That would be just awful.

He looked back down at his friend and furrowed his brow, was Sirius twitching? Yes, his was twitching. James leaned forward and gripped the weak hand of his friends in his own.

"Sirius… Padfoot? C'mon, mate, wake up let me know your okay."

Sirius's eyes fluttered.

"That's it, Pads, wake up."

A few more moments of fluttering and twitching paid off when James was staring at Sirius's dark blue eyes. Of course, they were half closed and confused beyond belief but they were open and aware.

"Hey, Padfoot, welcome back to the world of the living."

"Jimmy…?" Sirius breathed trying his best to focus his blurry eyes on the messy haired man before him.

"Yeah, I'm here, honeymoon ended a little early."

"Wha' 'appened?" Sirius moaned.

"Death Eater attack, remember? From what I hear you were quite the brave little soldier going into battle. Is it coming back to you now? You got a pretty hard knock to the head."

"My hair?" Sirius asked trying to bring his hand up to feel if his hair was still in tact only to be held back by James's own hand.

"Is fine." James answered calming Sirius down for a moment.

There was a silence between the two until Sirius looked down, now noticing James holding his hand. "Dude," he began raising his eyebrow at the stag animagus. "Could you be any more gay?"

James quickly pulled his hand away. "I just got married."

"Then Lily has quite the surprise ahead of her, doesn't she?" Sirius said taking a few deep breaths; he was still a bit weak.

James smirked. "I see your feeling better."

"Never better… So, I'm sorry you and Lils had to cut the honeymoon short."

"Don't be, not your fault Voldemort attacked. If it weren't for you we probably wouldn't have gone at all you were the one who told us to leave."

Sirius nodded only to jar the pain in his head and he winced. "So, how's everyone else?"

James swallowed, it was apparent that he still didn't know about Gideon and Fabian. "Fine… everyone in your group is fine…"

Sirius raised a brow. "But?"

"But… Gideon and Fabien they… they didn't make it. I got a message from Dumbledore just outside, everyone's still at Hogwarts… Five death eaters closed in on them according to Dumbledore."

Sirius was speechless, the Prewett brothers were brilliant wizards, it could be argued they were the strongest of them aside from the elder wizards and witches. If they could be brought down any of them could be next. "Oh Merlin…" He finally whispered.

"Yeah."

Sirius blinked tiredly, he didn't want to sleep now but the potions the healers pumped into his system were taking over. James must've noticed this because he patted the bed and stood. "Get some sleep, Pads."

"I'm not tired, Prongsy." He sighed rubbing his eye that wasn't currently swollen shut.

"Don't lie." James scolded softly.

"You used to lie all the time, I think Lily's having a good influence on you… its sickening." Sirius sighed.

James smirked. "Yeah well, maybe we should go to a pub when all this is over. Get some fun back."

"Yeah…" Sirius said barley above a whisper as his eyes slid shut.

"Sleep well, Pads," James said walking to the door as Sirius slipped into a blissful potions induced sleep where the horrors of Voldemort didn't touch.

He sighed when he shut the door behind him, giving the medi-witch a small smile as he passed by her and walked back to his friends. He was wordless as he took the empty chair beside Lily and folded his hands on his lap, staring at the floor.

"How is he?" Remus whispered, afraid to raise his voice any further.

"He'll be okay." James said still feeling the after effects of seeing his best friend, one of the strongest people he knew so weak. He couldn't help but smirk when he thought about how Sirius would react to all this later, no doubt he'd deny every bit of it. He'd say he was playing a part for sympathy… he was so predictable.

"Is he sleeping?" Laura squeaked from a few chairs down.

"Now he is, yeah, I'm not sure if he was awake when I went in or if I woke him up but he is now. Those potions they gave him really wore him out."

"Good." She breathed and pulled her legs up to her chest to relax.

The mood in the room was horrid, it was as if death himself was standing before them ready to pick another one of them off, and in a way, he was. The death of the Prewett brothers brought up the harsh reality that any of them could be next. This wasn't the first death the Order had sustained by far, there was Caradoc who no one really liked what with him being Slytherin and a great deal prejudice, but he was fighting the good fight. Edgar was next which was a terrible blow them and now not long later Gideon and Fabian were gone. They didn't even have enough time to recover from Edgar, now this…

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The brother's funeral had arrived quicker then expected, the Prewetts wanted to get it done and over before something else awful happened. The group was to arrive at James and Lily's home and then head to the funeral together to meet with the rest of the grievers. Sirius was staying with them temporarily since the healers didn't want him on his own so soon after a head injury which turned out to be more serious then Sirius lead on. He had a minor concussion and the healers were surprised there wasn't any permanent damage. James laughed it off and said Sirius's head was too thick to get hurt that badly.

Sirius walked out of the guest room as he fixed his tie, there was still a white bandage on his temple only now it was no longer bleeding so they didn't need to worry about a red spot appearing on it in the middle of the ceremony. He stepped into the kitchen to see Lily with her hands wrapped around a mug filled with something, he was surprised she was ready this early, normally she was the one who took the longest. James was no where in sight, he must've still been in their bedroom.

"How you holding up, Lil?" He asked as he leaned against the counter beside her.

"Good." She answered shortly and quietly as he placed her mug on the counter and turned so she could fix his bandage, even though he just put it on she felt the tape was wearing off a little. "I suppose we should be used to such losses by now, this is a war after all…"

"You should never be used to losses like this." Sirius said as she pressed lightly on his bandage. "War or no war."

She sighed and backed away from him to lean against the counter once more. At this point James walked in fixing his own tie much like Sirius had done earlier.

"No one's here yet?" He asked stepping into the room.

Lily shook her head but before she could get any words out the door swung open to reveal Remus entering still leaning heavily on his cane.

"Where's Andy?" Lily asked.

"She's popping over to Heather's to make sure she's getting ready, really I think she just doesn't wanna stay in one place too long right now. She's not really good at this sort of thing…" He trailed off and stood next to James.

Lily sighed and whipped her eyes, mindful of the light makeup she was wearing for the occasion. "Well, we're leaving in about ten minutes."

"She'll be here by then, I think they're taking the floo from Heathers."

She nodded and picked up the mug again to take a tentative sip.

There was a knocked at the door. "Come in!" James called, they all knew who it would be, Laura was the only one out of the eight who still felt it necessary to knock, all the rest just waltzed right in.

She mumbled a soft greeting and shut the door behind her. "I saw Peter out the window in the hall," she explained. "He'll be here in a moment… Where're Andy and Heather?" She asked upon noticing their absence from the room, particularly with Remus being here and Andy not.

"Andy's at Heathers now." Remus explained again. "They'll be here in a few minutes."

"Good." She nodded and took in a deep breath as the door opened and peter walked in, giving them all a simple wave and remaining silent.

Several minutes of silence passed by they heard the floo network activate in the other room, the group rushed in to see Andy stepping out and, like the rest of the girls, she was wearing a skirt which was unusual for her. Heather came out next and she too had an ankle length skirt on with a black jacket, they all looked very modest.

"Hi." Heather greeted stepping to them. "Are we ready?"

"Yeah," Lily whispered. "How are we getting there? Floo or apparation?"

"Portkey, actually." James answered automatically. "It's outside in the front." He explained.

They wandered out to the portkey which was an old broken pot that sat on the deck. They all touched it without another word and with a powerful tug at their naval they were transported to the funeral. They realized when they landed that perhaps a portkey was not the best way to go; the travel had disturbed their already upset stomachs in their grief.

When they entered the graveyard they were bombarded by a wave of sadness, people were crying and hugging and the group felt oddly out of place for some reason even though they considered themselves good friends with the brothers. Off in the front they spotted Molly crying into the shoulder of Arthur who was holding her tight, they wanted to go and give her their condolences but they felt as though they would be intruding on a private moment so she strayed from her and went to the back where they saw some other members of the Order.

Marlene was first to see them coming she gave them a small smile. "Hi, glad to see you all could come."

"Wouldn't miss it." Sirius said pushing at the ground with his toe and glanced back to the front, the caskets were closed, normally they would be open and then sealed with magic before being lowering into the ground but he supposed there wasn't enough left of the brothers to have an open casket, and if there was it wouldn't be a pretty sight.

"Have you talked to anyone yet?" Benjy asked.

James shook his head. "Haven't even signed the book."

He looked down and scuffed his shoes on the ground. "Yeah, well, better go do that before they start the ceremony."

James silently agreed the only reason they didn't sign in yet was because the book was in the front where Molly was and they didn't want to run into her, not yet. He cleared his throat, the conversation was awkward, they always were at funerals, it was like this at Edgar's funeral too.

"Come on," Laura said tugging at Andy and Lily's arms while looking at Heather and Marlene. "Let's go sign in." She was better at consoling people, her and Lily, when they ran into Lily they would know what to say.

"This sucks." Sirius sniffed as he ran a hand over his face.

"Yeah," Benjy agreed as his eyes began to sparkle with unshed tears. "It really does."


End file.
